Phase behavior and miscibility in lipid monolayers containing glycolipids.

HYPOTHESIS

Glycolipids in biological membranes are ubiquitous and believed to be involved in the formation of ordered functional domains. However, our current knowledge about such glycolipid-enriched domains is limited because they are inherently difficult to characterize.

EXPERIMENTS

We use grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction, isotherm measurements, and Brewster angle microscopy to investigate the phase behavior and miscibility in Langmuir lipid monolayers containing glycolipids.

FINDINGS

Glycolipid-enriched domains give rise to distinct diffraction patterns that allow for a systematic structural investigation and reveal a rich phenomenology, ranging from near-complete demixing to the formation of mixed domains with unique features. The phase behavior is governed by the headgroup chemistry and by the length and saturation of the tails.