Review

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 112-124 (February 2008) | doi:10.1038/nrm2330

Membrane lipids: where they are and how they behave

Gerrit van Meer1, Dennis R. Voelker2 & Gerald W. Feigenson3  About the authors

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Throughout the biological world, a 30 Å hydrophobic film typically delimits the environments that serve as the margin between life and death for individual cells. Biochemical and biophysical findings have provided a detailed model of the composition and structure of membranes, which includes levels of dynamic organization both across the lipid bilayer (lipid asymmetry) and in the lateral dimension (lipid domains) of membranes. 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 individual membranes?

Author affiliations

  1. Bijvoet Center and Institute of Biomembranes, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.
  2. Department of Medicine, National Jewish Medical Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80206, USA.
  3. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.

Correspondence to: Gerrit van Meer1 Email: g.vanmeer@uu.nl

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