Plasma Membrane Shaping

Plasma Membrane Shaping summarizes current knowledge on how cells shape their membrane. Organized in four sections, the book opens with a broad overview of the plasma membrane, its composition, usual shapes and substructures, Actin/WASP/arp2/3 structures, BAR domains, and Ankyrin repeat domains, dynamin, and phospholipid signaling. Other sections cover the shaping of the plasma membrane for transport processes, discussions on exosomes, microvesicles, and endosomes, clathrin-coated pits, caveolae, and other endocytic pits, membrane deformation for cell movement, and some of the most current dry and wet lab research techniques to investigate cellular membrane shaping. This is an ideal resource for new researchers coming into this area as well as for graduate students. The methods section will be of interest to both microscopists and computer scientists dedicated to the visualization, data collection, and analysis of plasma membrane shaping experiments.