Insight

Nature 438, 578-580 (1 December 2005) | doi:10.1038/nature04394

Membranes are more mosaic than fluid

Donald M. Engelman1

The wealth of new data on membrane protein structures and functions is changing our general view of membrane architecture. Some of the key themes that are emerging are that membranes are patchy, with segregated regions of structure and function, that lipid regions vary in thickness and composition, and that crowding and ectodomains limit exposure of lipid to the adjacent aqueous regions.

  1. Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, Box 208114, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8114, USA.
    Email: don@mail.csb.yale.edu

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