Kenichi G. N. Suzuki

TL;DR: The high-speed single-molecule tracking methods are described, and a new model of a partitioned fluid plasma membrane and the involvement of the actin-based membrane-skeleton "fences" and anchored-transmembrane protein "pickets" in the formation of compartment boundaries are critically reviewed.

TL;DR: The results strongly indicate the necessity for the paradigm shift of the concept on the plasma membrane: from the two-dimensional fluid continuum model to the compartmentalized membrane model in which its constituent molecules undergo hop diffusion over the compartments.

TL;DR: The sizes and lifetimes of rafts in the plasma membrane are evaluated, with a special attention paid to their intrinsically broad distributions and the limited time and space scales that are covered by the observation methods used for these studies.

TL;DR: It is proposed that the cooperative action of the hierarchical three-tiered mesoscale (2-300 nm) domains--actin-membrane-skeleton induced compartments, raft domains, and dynamic protein complex domains--is critical for membrane function and distinguishes the plasma membrane from a classical Singer-Nicolson-type model.

TL;DR: A single-molecule tracking technique coupled with mathematical modeling was developed for fully determining the dynamic monomer–dimer equilibrium of molecules in or on the plasma membrane, which will provide a framework for understanding signal transduction pathways initiated and regulated by dynamic dimers of membrane-localized receptors.