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- Title
Lysenin: A new tool for investigating membrane lipid organization.
- Authors
Ishitsuka, Reiko; Kobayashi, Toshihide
- Abstract
Sphingomyelin is a major sphingolipid species in animal cells and is a major lipid constituent of plasma membranes. Recent reports have established important roles for sphingomyelin and its metabolites as second messengers in signal transduction events during development and differentiation. Sphingomyelin is also a major component of sphingolipid, cholesterol-rich plasma membrane microdomains, known as‘lipid rafts’. However, little is known about the organization of sphingomyelin in biological membranes. Lysenin is a recently discovered sphingomyelin-specific toxin. In the present review, we summarize the current characterization of this protein and describe our recent attempt to elucidate the organization of sphingomyelin in cellular membranes using lysenin as a unique tool.
- Subjects
MEMBRANE lipids; SPHINGOLIPIDS; CELL membranes; MYELIN genes; BIOLOGICAL membranes
- Publication
Anatomical Science International, 2004, Vol 79, Issue 4, p184
- ISSN
1447-6959
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1447-073x.2004.00086.x