Barriers to the Free Diffusion of Proteins and Lipids in the Plasma Membrane

Overview

Journal J Cell Biol

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2015 Feb 4

PMID 25646084

Citations 91

Authors

William S Trimble

Sergio Grinstein

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Biological membranes segregate into specialized functional domains of distinct composition, which can persist for the entire life of the cell. How separation of their lipid and (glyco)protein components is generated and maintained is not well understood, but the existence of diffusional barriers has been proposed. Remarkably, the physical nature of such barriers and the manner whereby they impede the free diffusion of molecules in the plane of the membrane has rarely been studied in depth. Moreover, alternative mechanisms capable of generating membrane inhomogeneity are often disregarded. Here we describe prototypical biological systems where membrane segregation has been amply documented and discuss the role of diffusional barriers and other processes in the generation and maintenance of their structural and functional compartmentalization.

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