Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, Dresden 01307, Germany.
J Biol Chem. 2011 Nov 25;286(47):40631-7. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M111.276444. Epub 2011 Sep 30.
The conservation of fluidity is a theme common to all cell membranes. In this study, an analysis of lipid packing was conducted via C-laurdan spectroscopy of cell surface membranes prepared from representative species of Bacteria and Eukarya. We found that despite their radical differences in composition (namely the presence and absence of membrane-rigidifying sterol) the membrane order of all taxa converges on a remarkably similar level. To understand how this similarity is constructed, we reconstituted membranes with either bacterial or eukaryotic components. We found that transmembrane segments of proteins have an important role in buffering lipid-mediated packing. This buffering ensures that sterol-free and sterol-containing membranes exhibit similar barrier properties.
流动性的维持是所有细胞膜的共同主题。在这项研究中，通过对细菌和真核生物代表物种的细胞表面膜的 C-月桂酸丹宁光谱分析，对脂质的堆积进行了分析。我们发现，尽管它们在组成上存在根本差异（即膜刚性甾醇的存在与否），但所有分类群的膜有序性都收敛到一个非常相似的水平。为了了解这种相似性是如何构建的，我们用细菌或真核生物成分重建了膜。我们发现，蛋白质的跨膜片段在缓冲脂质介导的堆积方面起着重要作用。这种缓冲作用确保了无甾醇膜和含甾醇膜具有相似的屏障特性。
