title: Pressure effects on lipids and bio-membrane assemblies.
abstract: Membranes are amongst the most important biological structures; they maintain the fundamental integrity of cells, compartmentalize regions within them and play an active role in a wide range of cellular processes. Pressure can play a key role in probing the structure and dynamics of membrane assemblies, and is also critical to the biology and adaptation of deep-sea organisms. This article presents an overview of the effect of pressure on the mesostructure of lipid membranes, bilayer organization and lipid-protein assemblies. It also summarizes recent developments in high-pressure structural instrumentation suitable for experiments on membranes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, England.
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Brooks
keywords: bilayers; biological membranes; high-pressure studies; lipids; lipid–protein assemblies