Modelling the morphologies of the Endoplasmic Reticulum

The peripheral endoplasmic reticulum ER is an extensive membrane structure that is found in eukaryote cells and is the site for many key biological functions: folding and maturation of secretion bound proteins lipid synthesis and Ca2 regulation The ER forms a continuous membrane system with a common internal space and consists of domains that can adopt different morphologies such as: tubules flat sheets sheets with holes fenestrations and stacked sheets We show that the generation of tubules and sheets can be explained by curvature stabilizing proteins such as