Dynamics of Caveolin-1 on the Plasma Membrane

Abstract

Caveolae are important micro-domains that are found on the plasma membrane. Caveolae are known to aid in important cell processes such as endocytosis, cell signaling and cholesterol homeostasis. They are made up of sphingolipids, cholesterol and a protein called caveolin-1, which has two isoforms; caveolin-1α and caveolin-1β. It is currently debatable that these micro-domains are actively moving around on the cell surface. We believe that caveolae are dynamic on the plasma membrane, and the movement that they exhibit is non-random. The purpose of this project was to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of caveolae by studying the protein that it is composed of; caveolin-1α and caveolin-1β. Time lapse photography and confocal microscopy were used to investigate the dynamics of caveolin-1α and caveolin-1β. Diffusion coefficients were also calculated to determine the type of movement the proteins exhibited. The results from our experiments showed that caveolin-1β is more dynamic and temperature-dependent, compared to caveolin-1α, and that both proteins exhibit anomalous diffusion and direct movement with diffusion.