Sterol-lipids enable large-scale, liquid-liquid phase separation in bilayer membranes of only two components.

ABSTRACT: Despite longstanding excitement and progress toward understanding liquid-liquid phase separation in natural and artificial membranes, fundamental questions have persisted about which molecules are required for this phenomenon. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the smallest number of components that has produced large-scale, liquid-liquid phase separation in bilayers has stubbornly remained at three: a sterol, a phospholipid with ordered chains, and a phospholipid with disordered chains. This requirement of three components is puzzling because only two components are required for liquid-liquid phase separation in lipid monolayers, which resemble half of a bilayer. Inspired by reports that sterols interact closely with lipids with ordered chains, we tested whether phase separation would

SUBMITTER: Wilson KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11420208 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature