title: Bridging the gap: membrane contact sites in signaling, metabolism, and organelle dynamics.
abstract: Regions of close apposition between two organelles, often referred to as membrane contact sites (MCSs), mostly form between the endoplasmic reticulum and a second organelle, although contacts between mitochondria and other organelles have also begun to be characterized. Although these contact sites have been noted since cells first began to be visualized with electron microscopy, the functions of most of these domains long remained unclear. The last few years have witnessed a dramatic increase in our understanding of MCSs, revealing the critical roles they play in intracellular signaling, metabolism, the trafficking of metabolites, and organelle inheritance, division, and transport.
authors: Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 prinzw@helix.nih.gov.
authors: William A
authors: WA
authors: Prinz
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D015388:Organelles / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction