Harder T, Simons K
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Cell Biology Programme, Heidelberg, Germany.
Curr Opin Cell Biol. 1997 Aug;9(4):534-42. doi: 10.1016/s0955-0674(97)80030-0.
There is accumulating evidence that lateral assemblies (rafts) of sphingolipids and cholesterol form platforms that serve to support numerous cellular events in membrane traffic and signal transduction. Raft membrane microdomains are thought to function by preferentially associating with specific proteins while excluding others. The basic forces driving raft formation are lipid interactions which are, per se, weak and transient. Sphingolipid rafts should therefore be considered to be dynamic structures in which cholesterol plays an important role as a linker. Caveolins influence these dynamics by forming stabilized raft domains in intracellular membranes as well as at the plasma membrane. Recent data suggest that clustering of raft components could regulate raft dynamics and therefore represents an important feature in the function of these membrane microdomains.
越来越多的证据表明，鞘脂和胆固醇的侧向组装体（筏）形成了平台，用于支持膜运输和信号转导中的众多细胞活动。筏膜微结构域被认为通过优先与特定蛋白质结合而排除其他蛋白质来发挥作用。驱动筏形成的基本力量是脂质相互作用，其本身是微弱且短暂的。因此，鞘脂筏应被视为动态结构，其中胆固醇作为连接物发挥重要作用。小窝蛋白通过在细胞内膜以及质膜中形成稳定的筏结构域来影响这些动态过程。最近的数据表明，筏成分的聚集可以调节筏的动态变化，因此代表了这些膜微结构域功能的一个重要特征。
