Download Insights into structure of Golgi apparatus

Insights into structure of Golgi apparatus
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Using theory of membrane bending elasticity and a contact
attractive intermembrane potential, we study stacks of lipid
vesicles as models of the Golgi apparatus. By minimizing the
energy of the stack at fixed total membrane area and volume,
we allow the cisternae that form the apparatus to exchange
their area and volume so as to adjust their individual shapes:
This captures some features of the apparatus as a dynamical
structure. We systematically explore several nontrivial
topologies of cisternae to elucidate the structural role of
the openings in the cisternae called fenestrations. Our
results suggest that they may be responsible for the flattened
shape of the Golgi apparatus. We also discuss other aspects
of the complex architecture of this cell organelle.