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New Understanding of ER Membrane Expansion

January 28, 2022

How lipid metabolism gets coordinated with membrane growth in response to environment has remained an unexplained phenomenon. A recent paper explains key components in how cells manage this response.

Organelle biogenesis typically requires synthesis of new membrane and thus depends on lipid metabolism. A genetic screen identifies the ER protein Ice2p as a regulator of lipid metabolism and a major factor for ER membrane biogenesis, from Papagiannidis et al.

Papagiannidis et al. demonstrate a key regulatory step via the transmembrane protein Ice2p. Ice2p affects negative regulation of Pah1p (called lipin in metazoa) by inhibiting the Nem1-Spo7 phosphatase complex, which would normally activate Pah1p by dephosphorylation. The study shows that Ice2p also plays a role in transcriptional regulation of lipid synthesis genes, thereby providing a key pivot in the cellular need to make more membrane in response to ER stress.

Categories: Paper of the Week

Tags: endoplasmic reticulum, lipid regulation, Membrane biogenesis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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