Dowhan William
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Center for Membrane Biology, University of Texas Medical School-Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
J Lipid Res. 2009 Apr;50 Suppl(Suppl):S305-10. doi: 10.1194/jlr.R800041-JLR200. Epub 2008 Oct 30.
Lipids fulfill multiple and diverse functions in cells. Establishing the molecular basis for these functions has been challenging due to the lack of catalytic activity of lipids and the pleiotropic effects of mutations that affect lipid composition. By combining molecular genetic manipulation of membrane lipid composition with biochemical characterization of the resulting phenotypes, the molecular details of novel lipid functions have been established. This review summarizes the results of such a combined approach to defining lipid function in bacteria.
脂质在细胞中发挥着多种不同的功能。由于脂质缺乏催化活性以及影响脂质组成的突变具有多效性,为这些功能建立分子基础一直具有挑战性。通过将膜脂质组成的分子遗传操作与所产生表型的生化特征相结合,已确定了新型脂质功能的分子细节。本综述总结了这种在细菌中定义脂质功能的联合方法的结果。