Analysis of molecular assemblage in lipid bilayers using bicelles

小束是由长链磷脂和短链磷脂组成的脂质聚集体。由于双胞体具有真正的双层部分，它们被用作膜模型。在这项研究中，我们开发了一种方法来分析膜相关生物活性化合物的结构。我们首次将该方法应用于抗真菌化合物两性酚，成功地测定了其在膜中的结构，并提出了其生物活性的机制。分析了近年来备受关注的鞘磷脂（sphingomyelin）作为脂筏组成成分的结构，揭示了脂筏形成的分子基础。

Bicelles are lipid aggregates composed of long-chain phospholipid and short-chain one. Since bicelles have true bilayer portions, they are used as a membrane model. In this study, we developed a methodology to analyze the structure of membrane associated bioactive compounds using bicelles. We first applied the methodology to antifungal compound amphidinol, and successfully determined its structure in membrane and proposed the mechanism of its biological activity. Then we analyzed the structure of sphingomyelin, which draws a lot of attention as a component of lipid rafts, and revealed molecular basis of raft formation.