Three papers show that Vipp1, a plastid ESCRT-III protein, can form sheets, spirals and regular polygons on flat membranes and tubulate the membranes within stacked rings and helices. This work provides a framework for how Vipp1 can deliver lipids for thylakoid membrane biogenesis and protect and repair the membranes during photosynthesis.
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Acknowledgements
We thank A. Alian and J. Iwasa for assistance with the figures and H. Low for the coordinate file used to create Fig. 2e. Research on ESCRT-III filaments in the Sundquist lab is funded by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant R37 AI051174.
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McCullough, J., Sundquist, W.I. Thylakoid membrane remodeling by VIPP1 ESCRT-III-like filaments. Nat Struct Mol Biol 32, 414–417 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-025-01511-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-025-01511-x
