Year: 1982
Type: article
Abstract: In the past two decades or so there has been considerable advance in our knowledge of membrane structure. The fluid mosaic model of Singer and Nicolson (1) has had great heuristic value in thinking about membrane topology. In this model both proteins and lipids are free to diffuse in the bilayer, implying a random organization of protein and lipid. However, experimental evidence in diverse types of membranes and for several protein entities indicates that the lateral motion of most proteins is not determined primarily by free diffusion through a two-dimensional viscous fluid, but is constrained, probably by mechanisms such as interactions with cytoskeletal components. We will here present our evidence that lipids may also have nonhomogeneity in their lateral distribution, i.e., the lipid may be organized in domains, and that such organizational heterogeneity may have functional as well as structural significance.
Source: The Journal of Cell Biology
DOI: 10.1083/jcb.94.1.1
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G1443462121
OpenAlex ID: W2155268568