title: Transbilayer complementarity of phospholipids. A look beyond the fluid mosaic model.
abstract: Lipid-lipid interactions across a phospholipid bilayer were probed by measuring the nearest-neighbor preferences of exchangeable phospholipid monomers derived from 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DMPE) and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DSPE) in the presence of nonexchangeable DMPE- or DSPE-based dimers. Each of these permanent dimers promoted homophospholipid association to the same extent, whereas the corresponding nonexchangeable monomers were without effect. These results support a model in which the longer phospholipids in one monolayer leaflet preferentially associate with shorter ones in the adjoining monolayer. Such transbilayer complementarity is likely to play an important role in stabilizing biological membranes and also in promoting a compositional interdependence of their two lipid leaflets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA.
authors.forename: Jianbing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bingwen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Nobuya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tokutake
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Regen
mesh_terms: D007700:Kinetics; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010743:Phospholipids