title: Membranes are not just rafts.
abstract: A new definition for lipid rafts was coined at the Keystone Symposium of Lipid Rafts and Cell Function based on recent advances in the field. The revised definition lumps all membrane heterogeneities that are not rafts into a single class of "non-raft". In this commentary, we suggest that "non-raft" domains encompass a variety of membrane heterogeneities and are quite diverse in composition and origin. A good starting point for the study of this diversity would be phospholipids with unsaturated acyl chains, which display little affinity for cholesterol; these lipids are abundant in membranes such as the endoplasmic reticulum and that may form their own macro- or microdomains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Mudd Hall, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. saameshaikh@gmail.com
authors.forename: Saame Raza
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Shaikh
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Edidin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000737:chemistry*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010743:Phospholipids