Membranes articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The inherent toxicity of the aromatic compounds to the chassis strain hampers further improvement of bioproduction. Here, the authors show that membrane rigidifying effect of resveratrol can be attenuated by exogenous supplementation of palmitelaidic acid or linoleic acid in fermentation of Corynebacterium glutamicum.

    • Apilaasha Tharmasothirajan
    • , Josef Melcr
    •  & Jan Marienhagen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthetic membrane channels have many potential applications, but interfacing membrane channels with electronic devices for efficient information transfer is challenging. Here the authors integrate membrane spanning DNA nanopores with bioprotonic contacts to create programmable, modular, and efficient artificial ion-channel interfaces.

    • Le Luo
    • , Swathi Manda
    •  & Marco Rolandi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    EPAC1 is a cAMP-activated guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for Rap GTPases and a major transducer of cAMP signaling. Here, the authors show anionic membranes can activate EPAC1 independently of cAMP, increase its affinity for cAMP by two orders of magnitude, and synergize with cAMP to yield maximal GEF activity.

    • Candice Sartre
    • , François Peurois
    •  & Jacqueline Cherfils

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resolving the stoichiometry of membrane protein interactions is challenging but is vital to understand cell signalling. Using lipid-bound DNA receptors as a model for membrane proteins, the authors present a platform to achieve stoichiometric, spatial and temporal control over their interactions.

    • Vishal Maingi
    • , Zhao Zhang
    •  & Paul W. K. Rothemund

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlled membrane synthesis in liposomes is a prerequisite for synthetic systems emulating the fundamental properties of living cells. Here authors present that a de novo synthesized metabolic pathway converts precursors into a variety of lipids, including the constituents of the parental liposome.

    • Duco Blanken
    • , David Foschepoth
    •  & Christophe Danelon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transmembrane proteins are important for cellular functions and synthetic analogues are of interest. Here the authors report on the design and testing of a synthetic multipass transmembrane channel which shows anisotropic responses to agonistic and antagonistic ligands.

    • Takahiro Muraoka
    • , Daiki Noguchi
    •  & Kazushi Kinbara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Membrane-anchored DNA probes have been used to study molecular interactions and control cell assembly, but are not selective for different cell membranes. Here the authors develop a lipid-conjugated oligonucleotide for alkaline phosphatase-dependent cell membrane anchorage and use it to distinguish different cancer cells.

    • Cheng Jin
    • , Jiaxuan He
    •  & Weihong Tan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The origin of phospholipids, the primary constituents of cell membranes, is uncertain. Here, the authors develop an in vitro system to synthesize phospholipid molecules from water-soluble single-chain amphiphilic precursors via a reaction catalysed by the mycobacterial ligase FadD10.

    • Ahanjit Bhattacharya
    • , Roberto J. Brea
    •  & Neal K. Devaraj

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assembly of higher-order artificial vesicles can unlock new applications. Here, the authors use optical tweezers to construct user-defined 2D and 3D architectures of chemically distinct vesicles and demonstrate inter-vesicle communication and light-enabled compartment merging.

    • Guido Bolognesi
    • , Mark S. Friddin
    •  & Yuval Elani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Evidence suggests oligomerisation of G protein-coupled receptors in membranes, but this is controversial. Here, authors use single-molecule and ensemble FRET, and spectroscopy to show that the neurotensin receptor 1 forms multiple dimer conformations that interconvert - “rolling” interfaces.

    • Patricia M. Dijkman
    • , Oliver K. Castell
    •  & Anthony Watts

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Matryoshka doll-like, nested vesicles, each containing a different ingredient to a chemical reaction, can serve as microreactors. Here, the authors developed a system in which mixing of the ingredients can be induced by irradiation with ultraviolet light.

    • James W. Hindley
    • , Yuval Elani
    •  & Oscar Ces

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sub-nanometer graphene nanopores are usually required to create graphene-based reverse osmosis membranes. Here, Rollings et al.show that membranes with larger pores are highly ion selective and a hundred times more permeable to potassium ions than to chloride ions, making them useful for electrodialysis.

    • Ryan C. Rollings
    • , Aaron T. Kuan
    •  & Jene A. Golovchenko

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are attracting increasing attention as membrane components for molecular sieving due to the range of desirable properties they exhibit. Here, the authors employ in situ cation substitution to transform MOF topologies, and endow the membranes with improved separation capabilities.

    • Wanbin Li
    • , Yufan Zhang
    •  & Guoliang Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Caged signalling intermediates are powerful cell biological tools, however it can be challenging to precisely control where activation occurs. Nadler et al. develop a caging group that specifically targets the plasma membrane, and demonstrate spatially controlled activation of arachidonic acid signalling.

    • André Nadler
    • , Dmytro A. Yushchenko
    •  & Carsten Schultz

  • Article |

    Carbon nanotubes have been proposed for many forms of water treatment, although ultrafiltration nanotube-based membranes with very high flow rates remain rare. Here, the authors fabricate a membrane delivering water permeability close to 30,000 litres per square meter per hour at 1 bar.

    • Byeongho Lee
    • , Youngbin Baek
    •  & Yong Hyup Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Membranes allowing transfer of a gas between a liquid and gas layer have applications in areas such as blood oxygenation and carbon dioxide capture. Here, a super liquid repellent membrane is fabricated, allowing high gas transfer and also avoiding wetting and clogging of the membrane pores.

    • Maxime Paven
    • , Periklis Papadopoulos
    •  & Hans-Jürgen Butt

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