Annual Review of BiophysicsPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2024-06-28DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-030422-044448
Kunaal Joshi, Harrison M York, Charles S Wright, Rudro R Biswas, Senthil Arumugam, Srividya Iyer-Biswas
{"title":"Emergent Spatiotemporal Organization in Stochastic Intracellular Transport Dynamics.","authors":"Kunaal Joshi, Harrison M York, Charles S Wright, Rudro R Biswas, Senthil Arumugam, Srividya Iyer-Biswas","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030422-044448","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030422-044448","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The interior of a living cell is an active, fluctuating, and crowded environment, yet it maintains a high level of coherent organization. This dichotomy is readily apparent in the intracellular transport system of the cell. Membrane-bound compartments called endosomes play a key role in carrying cargo, in conjunction with myriad components including cargo adaptor proteins, membrane sculptors, motor proteins, and the cytoskeleton. These components coordinate to effectively navigate the crowded cell interior and transport cargo to specific intracellular locations, even though the underlying protein interactions and enzymatic reactions exhibit stochastic behavior. A major challenge is to measure, analyze, and understand how, despite the inherent stochasticity of the constituent processes, the collective outcomes show an emergent spatiotemporal order that is precise and robust. This review focuses on this intriguing dichotomy, providing insights into the known mechanisms of noise suppression and noise utilization in intracellular transport processes, and also identifies opportunities for future inquiry.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":" ","pages":"193-220"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139724895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ranajay Saha, Alberto Vázquez-Salazar, Aditya Nandy, Irene A Chen
{"title":"Fitness Landscapes and Evolution of Catalytic RNA.","authors":"Ranajay Saha, Alberto Vázquez-Salazar, Aditya Nandy, Irene A Chen","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-025038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-025038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The relationship between genotype and phenotype, or the fitness landscape, is the foundation of genetic engineering and evolution. However, mapping fitness landscapes poses a major technical challenge due to the amount of quantifiable data that is required. Catalytic RNA is a special topic in the study of fitness landscapes due to its relatively small sequence space combined with its importance in synthetic biology. The combination of in vitro selection and high-throughput sequencing has recently provided empirical maps of both complete and local RNA fitness landscapes, but the astronomical size of sequence space limits purely experimental investigations. Next steps are likely to involve data-driven interpolation and extrapolation over sequence space using various machine learning techniques. We discuss recent progress in understanding RNA fitness landscapes, particularly with respect to protocells and machine representations of RNA. The confluence of technical advances may significantly impact synthetic biology in the near future.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":"53 1","pages":"109-125"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141629249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Annual Review of BiophysicsPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2024-06-28DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-030722-121518
Agustín Mangiarotti, Rumiana Dimova
{"title":"Biomolecular Condensates in Contact with Membranes.","authors":"Agustín Mangiarotti, Rumiana Dimova","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030722-121518","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030722-121518","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biomolecular condensates are highly versatile membraneless organelles involved in a plethora of cellular processes. Recent years have witnessed growing evidence of the interaction of these droplets with membrane-bound cellular structures. Condensates' adhesion to membranes can cause their mutual molding and regulation, and their interaction is of fundamental relevance to intracellular organization and communication, organelle remodeling, embryogenesis, and phagocytosis. In this article, we review advances in the understanding of membrane-condensate interactions, with a focus on in vitro models. These minimal systems allow the precise characterization and tuning of the material properties of both membranes and condensates and provide a workbench for visualizing the resulting morphologies and quantifying the interactions. These interactions can give rise to diverse biologically relevant phenomena, such as molecular-level restructuring of the membrane, nano- to microscale ruffling of the condensate-membrane interface, and coupling of the protein and lipid phases.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":" ","pages":"319-341"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139742527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Annual Review of BiophysicsPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2024-06-28DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-020736
Arun Kumar Kondadi, Andreas S Reichert
{"title":"Mitochondrial Dynamics at Different Levels: From Cristae Dynamics to Interorganellar Cross Talk.","authors":"Arun Kumar Kondadi, Andreas S Reichert","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-020736","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-020736","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mitochondria are essential organelles performing important cellular functions ranging from bioenergetics and metabolism to apoptotic signaling and immune responses. They are highly dynamic at different structural and functional levels. Mitochondria have been shown to constantly undergo fusion and fission processes and dynamically interact with other organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum, peroxisomes, and lipid droplets. The field of mitochondrial dynamics has evolved hand in hand with technological achievements including advanced fluorescence super-resolution nanoscopy. Dynamic remodeling of the cristae membrane within individual mitochondria, discovered very recently, opens up a further exciting layer of mitochondrial dynamics. In this review, we discuss mitochondrial dynamics at the following levels: (<i>a</i>) within an individual mitochondrion, (<i>b</i>) among mitochondria, and (<i>c</i>) between mitochondria and other organelles. Although the three tiers of mitochondrial dynamics have in the past been classified in a hierarchical manner, they are functionally connected and must act in a coordinated manner to maintain cellular functions and thus prevent various human diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":" ","pages":"147-168"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139081095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Structure Function Studies of Photosystem II Using X-Ray Free Electron Lasers.","authors":"Junko Yano, Jan Kern, Vittal K Yachandra","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-071723-102519","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-071723-102519","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The structure and mechanism of the water-oxidation chemistry that occurs in photosystem II have been subjects of great interest. The advent of X-ray free electron lasers allowed the determination of structures of the stable intermediate states and of steps in the transitions between these intermediate states, bringing a new perspective to this field. The room-temperature structures collected as the photosynthetic water oxidation reaction proceeds in real time have provided important novel insights into the structural changes and the mechanism of the water oxidation reaction. The time-resolved measurements have also given us a view of how this reaction-which involves multielectron, multiproton processes-is facilitated by the interaction of the ligands and the protein residues in the oxygen-evolving complex. These structures have also provided a picture of the dynamics occurring in the channels within photosystem II that are involved in the transport of the substrate water to the catalytic center and protons to the bulk.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":"53 1","pages":"343-365"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11321711/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141629251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Arnab Modak, Zeliha Kilic, Kanokporn Chattrakun, Daniel S Terry, Ravi C Kalathur, Scott C Blanchard
{"title":"Single-Molecule Imaging of Integral Membrane Protein Dynamics and Function.","authors":"Arnab Modak, Zeliha Kilic, Kanokporn Chattrakun, Daniel S Terry, Ravi C Kalathur, Scott C Blanchard","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-070323-024308","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biophys-070323-024308","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) play central roles in cellular physiology and represent the majority of known drug targets. Single-molecule fluorescence and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) methods have recently emerged as valuable tools for investigating structure-function relationships in IMPs. This review focuses on the practical foundations required for examining polytopic IMP function using single-molecule FRET (smFRET) and provides an overview of the technical and conceptual frameworks emerging from this area of investigation. In this context, we highlight the utility of smFRET methods to reveal transient conformational states critical to IMP function and the use of smFRET data to guide structural and drug mechanism-of-action investigations. We also identify frontiers where progress is likely to be paramount to advancing the field.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":"53 1","pages":"427-453"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141629250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Annual Review of BiophysicsPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2024-06-28DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-032650
Shuming Liu, Advait Athreya, Zhuohan Lao, Bin Zhang
{"title":"From Nucleosomes to Compartments: Physicochemical Interactions Underlying Chromatin Organization.","authors":"Shuming Liu, Advait Athreya, Zhuohan Lao, Bin Zhang","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-032650","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-032650","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chromatin organization plays a critical role in cellular function by regulating access to genetic information. However, understanding chromatin folding is challenging due to its complex, multiscale nature. Significant progress has been made in studying in vitro systems, uncovering the structure of individual nucleosomes and their arrays, and elucidating the role of physicochemical forces in stabilizing these structures. Additionally, remarkable advancements have been achieved in characterizing chromatin organization in vivo, particularly at the whole-chromosome level, revealing important features such as chromatin loops, topologically associating domains, and nuclear compartments. However, bridging the gap between in vitro and in vivo studies remains challenging. The resemblance between in vitro and in vivo chromatin conformations and the relevance of internucleosomal interactions for chromatin folding in vivo are subjects of debate. This article reviews experimental and computational studies conducted at various length scales, highlighting the significance of intrinsic interactions between nucleosomes and their roles in chromatin folding in vivo.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":" ","pages":"221-245"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11369498/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139724896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Annual Review of BiophysicsPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2024-06-28DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-070323-022428
Paul Schanda, Gilad Haran
{"title":"NMR and Single-Molecule FRET Insights into Fast Protein Motions and Their Relation to Function.","authors":"Paul Schanda, Gilad Haran","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-070323-022428","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-070323-022428","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Proteins often undergo large-scale conformational transitions, in which secondary and tertiary structure elements (loops, helices, and domains) change their structures or their positions with respect to each other. Simple considerations suggest that such dynamics should be relatively fast, but the functional cycles of many proteins are often relatively slow. Sophisticated experimental methods are starting to tackle this dichotomy and shed light on the contribution of large-scale conformational dynamics to protein function. In this review, we focus on the contribution of single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies to the study of conformational dynamics. We briefly describe the state of the art in each of these techniques and then point out their similarities and differences, as well as the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. Several case studies, in which the connection between fast conformational dynamics and slower function has been demonstrated, are then introduced and discussed. These examples include both enzymes and large protein machines, some of which have been studied by both NMR and fluorescence spectroscopies.</p>","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":" ","pages":"247-273"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139724898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christopher T. Lee, Miriam Bell, Mayte Bonilla-Quintana, Padmini Rangamani
{"title":"Biophysical Modeling of Synaptic Plasticity","authors":"Christopher T. Lee, Miriam Bell, Mayte Bonilla-Quintana, Padmini Rangamani","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-072123-124954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biophys-072123-124954","url":null,"abstract":"Dendritic spines are small, bulbous compartments that function as postsynaptic sites and undergo intense biochemical and biophysical activity. The role of the myriad signaling pathways that are implicated in synaptic plasticity is well studied. A recent abundance of quantitative experimental data has made the events associated with synaptic plasticity amenable to quantitative biophysical modeling. Spines are also fascinating biophysical computational units because spine geometry, signal transduction, and mechanics work in a complex feedback loop to tune synaptic plasticity. In this sense, ideas from modeling cell motility can inspire us to develop multiscale approaches for predictive modeling of synaptic plasticity. In this article, we review the key steps in postsynaptic plasticity with a specific focus on the impact of spine geometry on signaling, cytoskeleton rearrangement, and membrane mechanics. We summarize the main experimental observations and highlight how theory and computation can aid our understanding of these complex processes.Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biophysics, Volume 53 is May 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":"259 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139923425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bacterial Electrophysiology","authors":"Wei-Chang Lo, Ekaterina Krasnopeeva, Teuta Pilizota","doi":"10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-032215","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biophys-030822-032215","url":null,"abstract":"Bacterial ion fluxes are involved in the generation of energy, transport, and motility. As such, bacterial electrophysiology is fundamentally important for the bacterial life cycle, but it is often neglected and consequently, by and large, not understood. Arguably, the two main reasons for this are the complexity of measuring relevant variables in small cells with a cell envelope that contains the cell wall and the fact that, in a unicellular organism, relevant variables become intertwined in a nontrivial manner. To help give bacterial electrophysiology studies a firm footing, in this review, we go back to basics. We look first at the biophysics of bacterial membrane potential, and then at the approaches and models developed mostly for the study of neurons and eukaryotic mitochondria. We discuss their applicability to bacterial cells. Finally, we connect bacterial membrane potential with other relevant (electro)physiological variables and summarize methods that can be used to both measure and influence bacterial electrophysiology.Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biophysics, Volume 53 is May 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":50756,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Biophysics","volume":"690 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139928014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}