Microcompartments in the Drosophila heart and the mammalian brain: general features and common principles
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Roland Brandt
Roland Brandt studied Biochemistry and Philosophy at the Universities of Tübingen and Berlin. After obtaining his doctoral degree at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Genetics, Berlin, he continued as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Neurologic Diseases (CND), Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA). After returning to Germany, he became an independent research Group Leader at the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience (IZN) at the University of Heidelberg. Since 2002 he is full Professor and Head of the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Osnabrück. The research of his group focuses on molecular mechanisms of neuronal development, aging and degeneration.
Achim Paululat studied Biology and Chemistry at the University of Münster and obtained the doctoral degree in Biology. He continued as a Post-doc in the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the University of Marburg. After completing a research stay at the Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA) he achieved his habilitation at the University of Marburg. Since 2004 he is full Professor and Head of the Department of Zoology & Developmental Biology at the University of Osnabrück. His research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of heart differentiation and organogenesis in
Drosophila .
Abstract
Microcompartments are sub-organellar functional units and may have an important role in cellular physiology. They can act as highly dynamic or even transiently forming organizing compartments within cells. In this review, we would like to extend the concept of microcompartments as subcellular structures in individual cells in a way that it includes specializations that occur between different cells and between cells and components of the extracellular matrix. To develop the general features and properties of these structures, we will present two quite different examples – the development and maturation of the Drosophila heart and the dynamics of synaptic contacts in the mammalian brain. We argue that the molecular architecture, the function and the maintenance of these specializations follows common principles independent of the organ or the organism under investigation. They fulfill the criteria for being proper microcompartments, including their function as local units for the segregation of responses, their ability to serve as organizing platforms in a temporally and spatially highly restricted manner, and their regulation through instructions from neighboring cells or extracellular matrix components in a locally restricted and autonomous manner.
About the authors
Roland Brandt studied Biochemistry and Philosophy at the Universities of Tübingen and Berlin. After obtaining his doctoral degree at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Genetics, Berlin, he continued as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Neurologic Diseases (CND), Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA). After returning to Germany, he became an independent research Group Leader at the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience (IZN) at the University of Heidelberg. Since 2002 he is full Professor and Head of the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Osnabrück. The research of his group focuses on molecular mechanisms of neuronal development, aging and degeneration.
Achim Paululat studied Biology and Chemistry at the University of Münster and obtained the doctoral degree in Biology. He continued as a Post-doc in the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the University of Marburg. After completing a research stay at the Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA) he achieved his habilitation at the University of Marburg. Since 2004 he is full Professor and Head of the Department of Zoology & Developmental Biology at the University of Osnabrück. His research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of heart differentiation and organogenesis in Drosophila.
©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- Guest Editorial
- Highlight: The physiology and dynamics of cellular microcompartments
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- Dynamics of bioenergetic microcompartments
- Microcompartments within the yeast plasma membrane
- Plant cell microcompartments: a redox-signaling perspective
- Microcompartments in the Drosophila heart and the mammalian brain: general features and common principles
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Guest Editorial
- Highlight: The physiology and dynamics of cellular microcompartments
- Highlight: The Physiology and Dynamics of Cellular Microcompartments
- Cellular microcompartments constitute general suborganellar functional units in cells
- Dynamics of bioenergetic microcompartments
- Microcompartments within the yeast plasma membrane
- Plant cell microcompartments: a redox-signaling perspective
- Microcompartments in the Drosophila heart and the mammalian brain: general features and common principles
- Minireviews
- Beyond anemia: hepcidin, monocytes and inflammation
- Melanoma resistance to photodynamic therapy: new insights
- The biosynthesis of caprazamycins and related liponucleoside antibiotics: new insights
- cCMP, cUMP, cTMP, cIMP and cXMP as possible second messengers: Development of a hypothesis based on studies with soluble guanylyl cyclase α1β1
- Research Articles/Short Communications
- Protein Structure and Function
- Degradation of channelopsin-2 in the absence of retinal and degradation resistance in certain mutants
- Cell Biology and Signaling
- Possible role of a septin, SEPT1, in spreading in squamous cell carcinoma DJM-1 cells
- Proteolysis
- ADAMTS: Novel proteases expressed by activated mast cells
- The proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1α and tumor necrosis factor α promote the expression and secretion of proteolytically active cathepsin S from human chondrocytes
