Tilt: major factor in sterols' ordering capability in membranes.
Using extensive atomistic simulations, we show that there is a single experimentally accessible parameter--the sterol tilt--that can be used to determine a sterol's capability to induce order, and thus to promote, e.g., formation of lipid rafts. The observations also facilitate designing new effective sterols.
Aittoniemi
Jussi
J
Laboratory of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.
Róg
Tomasz
T
Niemelä
Perttu
P
Pasenkiewicz-Gierula
Marta
M
Karttunen
Mikko
M
Vattulainen
Ilpo
I
D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D013261:Sterols / Q000737:chemistry*
D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D013261:Sterols