The molecular face of lipid rafts in model membranes
The molecular face of lipid rafts in model membranes
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0807527105
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发表时间：
2008-11-11
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Marrink, Siewert J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Risselada, H. Jelger;Marrink, Siewert J.
Cell membranes contain a large number of different lipid species. Such a multicomponent mixture exhibits a complex phase behavior with regions of structural and compositional heterogeneity. Especially domains formed in ternary mixtures, composed of saturated and unsaturated lipids together with cholesterol, have received a lot of attention as they may resemble raft formation in real cells. Here we apply a simulation model to assess the molecular nature of these domains at the nanoscale, information that has thus far eluded experimental determination. We are able to show the spontaneous separation of a saturated phosphatidylcholine (PC)/unsaturated PC/cholesterol mixture into a liquid-ordered and a liquid-disordered phase with structural and dynamic properties closely matching experimental data. The near-atomic resolution of the simulations reveals remarkable features of both domains and the boundary domain interface. Furthermore, we predict the existence of a small surface tension between the monolayer leaflets that drives registration of the domains. At the level of molecular detail, raft-like lipid mixtures show a surprising face with possible implications for many cell membrane processes.
