title: Lipid domain structure of the plasma membrane revealed by patching of membrane components.
abstract: Lateral assemblies of glycolipids and cholesterol, "rafts," have been implicated to play a role in cellular processes like membrane sorting, signal transduction, and cell adhesion. We studied the structure of raft domains in the plasma membrane of non-polarized cells. Overexpressed plasma membrane markers were evenly distributed in the plasma membrane. We compared the patching behavior of pairs of raft markers (defined by insolubility in Triton X-100) with pairs of raft/non-raft markers. For this purpose we cross-linked glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP), Thy-1, influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA), and the raft lipid ganglioside GM1 using antibodies and/or cholera toxin. The patches of these raft markers overlapped extensively in BHK cells as well as in Jurkat T-lymphoma cells. Importantly, patches of GPI-anchored PLAP accumulated src-like protein tyrosine kinase fyn, which is thought to be anchored in the cytoplasmic leaflet of raft domains. In contrast patched raft components and patches of transferrin receptor as a non-raft marker were sharply separated. Taken together, our data strongly suggest that coalescence of cross-linked raft elements is mediated by their common lipid environments, whereas separation of raft and non-raft patches is caused by the immiscibility of different lipid phases. This view is supported by the finding that cholesterol depletion abrogated segregation. Our results are consistent with the view that raft domains in the plasma membrane of non-polarized cells are normally small and highly dispersed but that raft size can be modulated by oligomerization of raft components.
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Cell Biology Programme, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harder
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scheiffele
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verkade
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Simons
mesh_terms: D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000494:pharmacology; D006224:Cricetinae; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside / Q000378:metabolism; D017261:Glycosylphosphatidylinositols / Q000378:metabolism; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D007668:Kidney; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010920:Placenta / Q000201:enzymology; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051076:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fyn; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012995:Solubility; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D017261:Glycosylphosphatidylinositols; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside; D002772:Cholera Toxin; C494957:FYN protein, human; D051076:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fyn; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase