Interprotein interactions are responsible for the confined diffusion of a G-protein-coupled receptor at the cell surface

Biochem Soc Trans. 2003 Oct;31(Pt 5):1001-5. doi: 10.1042/bst0311001.

Abstract

The monitoring of the movements of membrane proteins (or lipids) by single-particle tracking enables one to obtain reliable insights into the complex dynamic organization of the plasma membrane constituents. Using this technique, we investigated the diffusional behaviour of a G-protein-coupled receptor. The trajectories of the receptors revealed a diffusion mode combining a short-term rapid confined diffusion with a long-term slow diffusion. A detailed statistical analysis shows that the receptors have a diffusion confined to a domain which itself diffuses, the confinement being due to long-range attractive inter-protein interactions. The existing models of the dynamic organization of the cell membrane cannot explain our results. We propose a theoretical Brownian model of interacting proteins that is consistent with the experimental observations and accounts for the variations found as a function of the domain size of the short-term and long-term diffusion coefficients.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Membrane / metabolism*
  • Diffusion
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Models, Statistical
  • Normal Distribution
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / chemistry*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled