ABSTRACT
The shape of the cell membrane is controlled by both the surface lipid bilayer and the underlying cytoskeletal network. Changes in membrane–cytoskeletal linkages and forces generated by actin polymerization or cytoskeletal motors provide the energy needed to drive cell protrusion and vesicle trafficking that produce large changes in membrane curvature. A key regulator of the interaction between the membrane and the cytoskeleton is a set of anionic lipids called the phosphoinositides that bind many cytoskeletal proteins and proteins that cause or sense membrane curvature. Recent experimental results and multiscale simulations have begun to produce an integrated model for how these fascinating lipids perform their many cellular functions and help orchestrate the dynamic charges in membrane curvature.
