2004 Biophysical Discussion: Membrane Microdomains

描述（由申请人提供）：2004年生物物理讨论的主题是“探测膜微区”。“会议将于2004年10月28日至31日在加利福尼亚州蒙特雷的阿西洛马举行。所有的演讲者将描述技术，包括理论方法，可以用来，原则上，调查脂质和蛋白质的横向异质性膜-指挥感兴趣的话题与筏的概念的出现。假定的筏是基本的兴趣，研究膜横向组织的生物学家和生物学家谁需要知道横向组织的功能后果。然而，筏领域是在一个技术僵局，因为没有明确的结构相关的生物化学定义的筏。不同的方法给出不同的答案。这是因为膜是一种有序的二维液体，我们仍在开发适当的调查手段。因此，本讨论将集中在目前可用的技术，可用于表征膜横向异质性-其优点和局限性。这些技术包括荧光和电子显微镜方法，NMR，质谱和X射线研究，以及计算研究。应用将包括那些集中在模型膜和细胞膜。会议还将审议新的可用技术以及今后应开发何种方法。生物物理讨论的形式是独特的，它强调讨论和事先准备的参与者。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The 2004 Biophysical Discussions will be on the topic, "Probing membrane microdomains." The meeting will be held in Asilomar, Monterey, CA from Oct. 28-31, 2004. All speakers will be describing techniques, including theoretical methods that can be used, in principle, to investigate lipid and protein lateral heterogeneity in membranes--a topic of commanding interest with the advent of the notion of rafts. The putative rafts are of basic interest to biophysicists studying membrane lateral organization and to biologists who need to know the functional consequences of lateral organization. However, the raft field is at a technical impasse because there is no unambiguous structural correlate of the biochemically defined raft. Different methods give different answers. This is because the membrane is an ordered two-dimensional liquid for which we are still developing the appropriate means of investigation. This Discussion will therefore focus on the currently available techniques that can be used to characterize membrane lateral heterogeneity--their advantages and limitations. These techniques include fluorescence and electron microscopic methods, NMR, mass spec. and X-ray studies, as well computational studies. Applications will include those focused both on model membranes and cell membranes. The meeting will also consider newly available techniques and what types of methodology should be developed in the future. The format of the Biophysical Discussions is unique in its stress on discussion and prior preparation by the participants.