Friction at the BAR Leads to Membrane Breakup Kranthi K. Mandadapu, James H. Hurley  Cell  Volume 170, Issue 1, Pages 14-16 (June 2017) DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.06.027 Copyright © 2017 Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 Protein-Lipid Friction Drives Membrane Tubule Scission (A) When a force (left to right) is applied to an uncoated membrane tubule, it can elongate as lipid molecules flow freely in the plane of the membrane. (B) When the BAR protein coat is fixed and the membrane tubule is pulled slowly (left to right), lipids can slowly disengage from interactions with the protein, flow to the right, and are replenished by additional lipids from a reservoir such as the giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV) membrane in the experiments described, or the plasma membrane or other organellar membrane in a cell. (C) When the membrane tubule is elongated rapidly (left to right), lipids cannot flow from the BAR protein coat quickly enough to fill the gap. This leads to the loss of integrity of the membrane to the right of the BAR protein coat, and the resultant pore expands until scission occurs. Cell 2017 170, 14-16DOI: (10.1016/j.cell.2017.06.027) Copyright © 2017 Terms and Conditions