Membrane lipids and vesicular traffic.
Lipids were long considered to be passive passengers of carrier vesicles with the single role of sealing the transport container. We now know that specific phospholipids are required for efficient fusion, while others facilitate budding and fission. Moreover, the various polyphosphoinositides assist in the recruitment from the cytosol of proteins of the transport machinery. Finally, the segregation of membrane lipids into different fluid phases appears to serve as a 'lipid raft' mechanism for protein sorting at various stages of the secretory and endocytic pathways. The current challenge is to understand how proteins control the metabolism and subcellular localization, and thereby the activity, of the various lipids.
van Meer
Gerrit
G
Department of Membrane Enzymology, Centre for Biomembranes and Lipid Enzymology, Institute of Biomembranes, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. g.vanmeer@chem.uu.nl
Sprong
Hein
H
D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D022162:Cytoplasmic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism*; D004705:Endocytosis; D017261:Glycosylphosphatidylinositols / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008954:Models, Biological; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols / Q000378:metabolism; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D017261:Glycosylphosphatidylinositols; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols; D010743:Phospholipids; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins