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Membrane lipids, where they are and how they behave: Sphingolipids on the move
Author(s) -
Meer Gerrit
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.312.1
Subject(s) - sphingolipid , membrane , microbiology and biotechnology , membrane lipids , biological membrane , lipid microdomain , lipid raft , peripheral membrane protein , lipid bilayer , chemistry , vesicle , biochemistry , biology , membrane protein , integral membrane protein
Throughout the biological world, a 3 nm hydrophobic film typically serves as the margin between life and death for individual cells. Biochemical and biophysical findings have provided a detailed model of membrane composition and structure, which includes the dynamic organization of lipids both across the lipid bilayer (lipid asymmetry) and in the lateral dimension (lipid domains). How do cells apply anabolic and catabolic enzymes, translocases and transporters, plus the intrinsic physical phase behaviour of lipids and their interactions with membrane proteins, to create the unique compositions and multiple functionalities of their membranes? When acquiring internal membranes and vesicular transport, eukaryotic cells started to synthesize sphingolipids and sterols. The physical differences between these and the glycerophospholipids must have enabled the cells to segregate lipids in the membrane plane. Localizing this event to the Golgi then allowed them to create membranes of different lipid composition, notably a thin, flexible ER membrane, consisting of glycerolipids, and a sturdy plasma membrane containing at least 50% sphingolipids and sterols. Besides sorting membrane proteins, during evolution the simple sphingolipids became involved in the execution and control of signaling by specific interactions with (membrane) proteins, for which their local metabolism and transport appear essential.