Membrane filtration, especially based on the size exclusion phenomenon, has long been established due to its abilities to addressing the growing demands of the clean water of the world’s population. However, widespread applications of the membranes face several challenges including chemical vulnerability, thermal deterioration, and biological degradation of the membranes that transpire while re...

Membrane separation technologies have recently received much attention, from lab-scale studies to full-scale operations, in the forest industry. However, membrane fouling comprises a signifcant obstacle to their broad application. Thus, to ensure cost-effective operation of membrane separation processes, the improved elucidation of membrane fouling and establishment of e...

In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of combined pressure depletion and thermal stimulation to produce CH4 gas from hydrates at permafrost conditions. hydrate phase trans...

Permeant cationic fluorescent probes are shown to be selectively accumulated by the mitochondria of living cells. Mitochondria-specific interaction of such molecules is apparently dependent on the high trans-membrane potential (inside negative) maintained by functional mitochondria. Dissipation of the mitochondrial trans-membrane and potential by ionophores or inhibitors of electron transport e...

Intracellular membrane trafficking plays an essential role in the biogenesis and maintenance of myelin. Members of the Rab protein family are important components of the systems that regulate intracellular vesicle transport. We examine the function of rRab22b, a novel rat Rab protein cloned from an oligodendrocyte cDNA library, by visualizing and identifying in living Hela cells the organelles ...

Equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs) are integral membrane proteins, which reside in plasma membranes of all eukaryotic cells and mediate thermodynamically downhill transport of nucleosides. This process is essential for nucleoside recycling, and also plays a key role in terminating adenosine-mediated cellular signaling. Furthermore, ENTs mediate the uptake of many drugs, including anti...

Trypanosome variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs) have a novel glycan-phosphatidylinositol membrane anchor, which is cleavable by a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. A similar structure serves to anchor some membrane proteins in mammalian cells. Using kinetic and ultrastructural approaches, we have addressed the question of whether this structure directs the protein to the cell surf...

Intracellular membrane fusion requires SNARE proteins in a trans-complex, anchored to apposed membranes. Proteoliposome studies have suggested that SNAREs drive fusion by stressing the lipid bilayer via their transmembrane domains (TMDs), and that SNARE complexes require a TMD in each docked membrane to promote fusion. Yeast vacuole fusion is believed to require three Q-SNAREs from one vacuole ...

The hepatic bile acid transporter NTCP is a high-affinity receptor for hepatitis B and D viruses. This study shows that TLC rapidly accumulates in NTCP-expressing hepatoma cells mediates long-lasting trans-inhibition of NTCP’s function via an intracellularly accessible domain, without substantially affecting its membrane expression. domain promising novel target site pharmacological long-acting...

The membrane-anchored atlastin GTPase couples nucleotide hydrolysis to the catalysis of homotypic membrane fusion to form a branched endoplasmic reticulum network. Trans dimerization between atlastins anchored in opposing membranes, accompanied by a cross-over conformational change, is thought to draw the membranes together for fusion. Previous studies on the conformational coupling of atlastin...