title: Lysenin: a new tool for investigating membrane lipid organization.
abstract: Sphingomyelin is a major sphingolipid species in animal cells and is a major lipid constituent of plasma membranes. Recent reports have established important roles for sphingomyelin and its metabolites as second messengers in signal transduction events during development and differentiation. Sphingomyelin is also a major component of sphingolipid, cholesterol-rich plasma membrane microdomains, known as 'lipid rafts'. However, little is known about the organization of sphingomyelin in biological membranes. Lysenin is a recently discovered sphingomyelin-specific toxin. In the present review, we summarize the current characterization of this protein and describe our recent attempt to elucidate the organization of sphingomyelin in cellular membranes using lysenin as a unique tool.
authors.affiliation: Lipid Biology Laboratory, RIKEN (Institute of Physical and Chemical Research) Discovery Research Institute, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ishitsuka
authors.forename: Toshihide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D013109:Sphingomyelins / Q000032:analysis; D014118:Toxins, Biological
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D011506:Proteins; D013109:Sphingomyelins; D014118:Toxins, Biological; C107040:lysenin