FEBS Letters
Volume 584, Issue 9 , Pages 1678-1684, 3 May 2010

Formation and regulation of lipid microdomains in cell membranes: Theory, modeling, and speculation

Edited by Wilhelm Just

  • Jun Fan

      Affiliations

    • Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
    • ,
  • Maria Sammalkorpi

      Affiliations

    • Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
    • Formerly M. Huhtala.
    • ,
  • Mikko Haataja

      Affiliations

    • Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), The Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics (PACM), Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Fax: +1 609 258 5877.

Received 14 September 2009; received in revised form 16 October 2009; accepted 19 October 2009. published online 23 October 2009.

Abstract 

Compositional lipid microdomains (“lipid rafts”) in plasma membranes are believed to be important components of many cellular processes. The biophysical mechanisms by which cells regulate the size, lifetime, and spatial localization of these domains are rather poorly understood at the moment. Over the years, experimental studies of raft formation have inspired several phenomenological theories and speculations incorporating a wide variety of thermodynamic assumptions regarding lipid–lipid and lipid–protein interactions, and the potential role of active cellular processes on membrane structure. Here we critically review and discuss these theories, models, and speculations, and present our view on future directions.

Keywords: Cell membrane, Lipid microdomain, Theory, Modeling

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PII: S0014-5793(09)00839-4

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2009.10.051

FEBS Letters
Volume 584, Issue 9 , Pages 1678-1684, 3 May 2010

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