Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have combined the power of two kinds of microscope to produce a 3-dimensional movie of how cells 'swallow' nutrients and other molecules by engulfing them. The study, published today in Cell, is the first to follow changes in the shape of the cell's membrane and track proteins thought to influence those changes. It also provides ample data to investigate this essential process further.

This 'swallowing', called endocytosis, is involved in a variety of crucial tasks. It is used by brain cells relaying information to each other, for instance, and is also hijacked by many viruses, which use it to invade their host's cells. When a cell is about to swallow some molecules, a dent appears in the cell's membrane, and gradually expands inwards, pinching off to form a little pouch, or vesicle, that transports molecules into the cell.

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Scientists at EMBL have combined the power of two kinds of microscope to produce a three-dimensional movie of how cells swallow nutrients and other molecules by engulfing them. The study is the first to follow changes in the shape of the cells membrane and track proteins thought to influence those changes. Credit: EMBL/W.Kukulski

The data used to make the video is freely available to the scientific community and will, Kaksonen and Briggs believe, provide valuable information to others trying to develop physical models of how this process works. The EMBL scientists themselves are probing the roles of individual proteins in this process, by perturbing them, and would like to extend the current work in yeast to human cells.

More information: Kukulski, W., Schorb, M., Kaksonen, M. & Briggs, J.A.B. Time-resolved electron tomography reveals how the plasma membrane is reshaped during endocytosis. Cell, 3 August 2012.

Journal reference: Cell

Provided by European Molecular Biology Laboratory

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3D movie at 'ultraresolution' shows how cell`s machinery bends membrane inwards