Transmembrane peptides influence the affinity of sterols for phospholipid bilayers.

ABSTRACT: Cholesterol is distributed unevenly between different cellular membrane compartments, and the cholesterol content increases from the inner bilayers toward the plasma membrane. It has been suggested that this cholesterol gradient is important in the sorting of transmembrane proteins. Cholesterol has also been to shown play an important role in lateral organization of eukaryotic cell membranes. In this study the aim was to determine how transmembrane proteins influence the lateral distribution of cholesterol in phospholipid bilayers. Insight into this can be obtained by studying how cholesterol interacts with bilayer membranes of different composition in the presence of designed peptides that mimic the transmembrane helices of proteins. For this purpose we developed an assay in which the par

SUBMITTER: Nystrom JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2905112 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature