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Nature 438, 569-570 (1 December 2005) | doi:10.1038/438569a; Published online 30 November 2005
Cell biology: A greasy grip
Anthony G. Lee1
Abstract
How do the lipids and proteins of the cell membrane interact to create a functioning barrier for the cell? A high-resolution structure of a membrane protein reveals intimate contacts with its lipid neighbours.
The design of a biological membrane is beautifully simple: a lipid bilayer provides the basic barrier, and into this are plugged a variety of membrane proteins. Each protein is designed to carry out some particular function for the cell — moving specific molecules in or out of the cell, say, or sensing the environment.
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