title: Recent progress on lipid lateral heterogeneity in plasma membranes: From rafts to submicrometric domains.
abstract: The concept of transient nanometric domains known as lipid rafts has brought interest to reassess the validity of the Singer-Nicolson model of a fluid bilayer for cell membranes. However, this new view is still insufficient to explain the cellular control of surface lipid diversity or membrane deformability. During the past decades, the hypothesis that some lipids form large (submicrometric/mesoscale vs nanometric rafts) and stable (>min vs s) membrane domains has emerged, largely based on indirect methods. Morphological evidence for stable submicrometric lipid domains, well-accepted for artificial and highly specialized biological membranes, was further reported for a variety of living cells from prokaryot es to yeast and mammalian cells. However, results remained questioned based on limitations of available fluorescent tools, use of poor lipid fixatives, and imaging artifacts due to non-resolved membrane projections. In this review, we will discuss recent evidence generated using powerful and innovative approaches such as lipid-specific toxin fragments that support the existence of submicrometric domains. We will integrate documented mechanisms involved in the formation and maintenance of these domains, and provide a perspective on their relevance on membrane deformability and regulation of membrane protein distribution.
authors.affiliation: CELL Unit, de Duve Institute & Université Catholique de Louvain, UCL B1.75.05, Avenue Hippocrate, 75, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carquin
authors.affiliation: The Myelin Regeneration Group at the Dept. Anatomy & Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, 808 S. Wood St. MC512, Chicago, IL. 60612. USA.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: D'Auria
authors.affiliation: CELL Unit, de Duve Institute & Université Catholique de Louvain, UCL B1.75.05, Avenue Hippocrate, 75, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pollet
authors.affiliation: The Myelin Regeneration Group at the Dept. Anatomy & Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, 808 S. Wood St. MC512, Chicago, IL. 60612. USA.
authors.forename: Ernesto R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Bongarzone
authors.affiliation: CELL Unit, de Duve Institute & Université Catholique de Louvain, UCL B1.75.05, Avenue Hippocrate, 75, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: donatienne.tyteca@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Donatienne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tyteca
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000378:metabolism; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000378:metabolism*; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D015003:Yeasts / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids
keywords: Lipid domains; Lipid probes; Living cells; Membrane deformability; Membrane lipid composition; Toxin fragments