Biological membranes play a crucial role in actively hosting, modulating and coordinating a wide range of molecular events essential for cellular function. Membranes are organized into diverse domains giving rise to dynamic molecular patchworks. However, the very definition of membrane domains has been the subject of continuous debate. For example, in the plant field, membrane domains are often referred to as nanodomains, nanoclusters, microdomains, lipid rafts, membrane rafts, signalling platforms, foci or liquid-ordered membranes without any clear rationale. In the context of plant–microbe interactions, microdomains have sometimes been used to refer to the large area at the plant–microbe interface. Some of these terms have partially overlapping meanings at best, but they are often used interchangeably in the literature. This situation generates much confusion and limits conceptual progress. There is thus an urgent need for us as a scientific community to resolve these semantic and conceptual controversies by defining an unambiguous nomenclature of membrane domains. In this Review, experts in the field get together to provide explicit definitions of plasma membrane domains in plant systems and experimental guidelines for their study. We propose that plasma membrane domains should not be considered on the basis of their size alone but rather according to the biological system being considered, such as the local membrane environment or the entire cell.

生物膜在积极承载、调节和协调细胞功能所必需的各种分子事件方面发挥着至关重要的作用。膜被组织成不同的域，从而产生动态的分子拼凑。然而，膜域的定义一直是争论的焦点。例如，在植物领域，膜域通常被称为纳米域、纳米簇、微域、脂筏、膜筏、信号平台、焦点或液体有序膜，没有任何明确的理由。在植物-微生物相互作用的背景下，微域有时被用来指植物-微生物界面的大面积。其中一些术语充其量具有部分重叠的含义，但它们在文献中经常互换使用。这种情况会产生很多混乱并限制概念的进展。因此，我们科学界迫切需要通过定义膜域的明确命名法来解决这些语义和概念争议。在这篇综述中，该领域的专家齐聚一堂，为植物系统中的质膜域提供了明确的定义，并为他们的研究提供了实验指南。我们建议不应仅根据质膜域的大小来考虑质膜域，而应根据所考虑的生物系统（例如局部膜环境或整个细胞）来考虑。