ABSTRACT
Biological membranes are highly dynamic and change conformation to support a diverse range of cellular processes that require membrane remodeling. The generation of membrane curvature plays a central role in regulating membrane morphology and is accomplished by a variety of peptides and proteins upon binding to a membrane surface. This phenomenon has been observed in biological events, such as the killing of bacteria by antimicrobial peptides, budding and release of enveloped viruses, membrane tubulation and fission by dynamin-related proteins, and coat protein-mediated endocytosis. The mechanisms through which peptides and proteins deform membranes are largely driven by their unique interactions with membrane lipids. This chapter surveys the current knowledge of simple, constitutive peptide- or protein-induced membrane curvature generation mechanisms that have been described in different fields of biology, and examines how combinations of these mechanisms can cooperatively achieve the complex curvatures necessary in membrane-remodeling processes.
