AUTHOR=Truong Quang Binh-An , Lenne Pierre-François TITLE=Membrane microdomains: from seeing to understanding JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2014 YEAR=2014 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2014.00018 DOI=10.3389/fpls.2014.00018 ISSN=1664-462X ABSTRACT=

The plasma membrane is a composite material, which forms a semi-permeable barrier and an interface for communication between the intracellular and extracellular environments. While the existence of membrane microdomains with nanoscale organization has been proved by the application of numerous biochemical and physical methods, direct observation of these heterogeneities using optical microscopy has remained challenging for decades, partly due to the optical diffraction limit, which restricts the resolution to ~200 nm. During the past years, new optical methods which circumvent this fundamental limit have emerged. Not only do these techniques allow direct visualization, but also quantitative characterization of nanoscopic structures. We discuss how these emerging optical methods have refined our knowledge of membrane microdomains and how they may shed light on the basic principles of the mesoscopic membrane organization.