Phosphatidylinositol-based probes of membranes, proteins, and enzymes.

细胞包含充满水的区域，其他区域充满脂肪和脂质。生物膜是包围细胞及其内部细胞器的屏障，由在水中溶解性很差的脂类组成。然而，有时细胞需要将脂质从一个地方转移到另一个地方。研究人员已经发现了能够拾取特定脂类并将它们从一个膜位置转移到另一个膜位置的蛋白质。在过去的50年里，许多这样的蛋白质被发现并被描述，它们通常被称为“脂转移蛋白”。但它们的名字可能掩盖了我们对这些蛋白质真正功能的思考。事实上，要证明这些蛋白质在活细胞中转移脂类的能力并不是一件容易的事。我们已经制作了荧光探针来跟踪这种在哺乳动物细胞中转移维生素E的蛋白质的作用。我们还探索了携带某些磷脂的磷脂酰肌醇转移蛋白(PITPs)的功能。这些蛋白质对酵母的生存至关重要，哺乳动物形式的突变会导致各种神经疾病和发育问题。

Cells contain areas filled with water and others filled with fats and lipids. Biological membranes, the barriers that surround cells and their internal organelles, are composed of lipids that have very poor solubility in water. There are times, however, when a cell requires that lipids be moved from one place to another. Researchers have discovered proteins that are capable of picking up specific lipids and moving them from one membrane location to another. Many of these proteins, generically termed “lipid transfer proteins”, have been discovered and described over the last 50 years. But their names may have obscured our thinking about the true function of these proteins. In fact, demonstrating the ability of these proteins to transfer lipids in living cells is not trivial. We have made fluorescent probes to follow just this sort of action for the protein that transfers vitamin E around mammalian cells. We have also explored the function of phosphatidylinositol transfer proteins (PITPs) that carry certain phospholipids. These proteins are critical for the survival of yeast, and mutations of the mammalian forms result in a variety of neurological diseases and developmental problems.