Tetraspanin Enriched Microdomains - Web Formation and Function

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thorsten Lang
• Subject Area: Cell Biology
• Term: from 2014 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 261129380

Tetraspanins are a family of small membrane proteins, ubiquitously expressed, and involved in an exceptional large variety of cellular processes. It is well documented that they organize the membrane by associating laterally with one another and a large number of other molecules, forming a so-called tetraspanin web.To date, the function and the architecture of the tetraspanin web are only poorly understood. Studying the tetraspanin web, in the previous funding period we made essentially two findings. First, we show that the CD81 molecule forms homomeric clusters because of the specificity encoded in its δ-loop. Second, we find that the tetraspanin web is not composed of crosslinked small complexes but resembles a network of nano-clusters.We now propose to explore further the anatomy of the tetraspanin web, to study the mechanisms that generate the cluster network and to examine the dynamics of molecules of the tetraspanin web. The insights will reveal the principles underlying the formation of the complex molecular networks formed by those biologically very active proteins.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants