The Ins and Outs in Membrane Dynamics: Tubulation and Vesiculation

Living cells constantly adjust the composition and size of their membrane systems to accommodate the demands for the housekeeping activities, to expand and reduce cell size, and to commit the cell for division. Although it is well known that vesicles are the vehicles to deliver and retrieve lipids and proteins to and from the membranes, the mechanisms allowing vesicles to pinch off from membranes or fuse into a flat lipid bilayer have been poorly understood, particularly in plants. Recent studies on dynamins and dynamin-related proteins in animals and plants now allow new concepts in membrane dynamics to be considered.