# Mechanisms of de novo membrane assembly

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK · 2024 · $313,619

## Abstract

7. PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 The ability to rearrange vesicular traffic to create new membrane compartments de novo is a
fundamental cell biological process important for many aspects of cellular physiology and differentiation. Two
common examples of this phenomenon are the creation of autophagosomes and the generation of the ciliary
sheath. In both cases, vesicles coalesce on a protein substrate to create a small double membrane that
subsequently expands into a distinct organelle. Defects in these processes are associated with a variety of
diseases, highlighting the importance of this aspect of cellular physiology to human health. Prospore
membrane formation during the process of sporulation in budding yeast is another example of a de novo
membrane formation event. Prospore membrane formation occurs on the microtubule organizing center of the
cells, analogous to the ciliary sheath in higher cells, and the prospore membrane expands to encapsulate
cytoplasmic components, analogous to an autophagosome. These similarities are due to parallels at the
molecular level that make yeast sporulation a powerful model system to identify the underlying molecular
mechanisms of membrane assembly. The experiments in this proposal are focused on two aspects of this
process: 1) how the MOP promotes coalescence of vesicles to create the prospore membrane, and 2) how the
Vps13 lipid transfer protein promotes membrane expansion.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10754591
- **Project number:** 5R01GM145606-02
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK
- **Principal Investigator:** Aaron M Neiman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $313,619
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-01-01 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10754591

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10754591, Mechanisms of de novo membrane assembly (5R01GM145606-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10754591. Licensed CC0.

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