LipidRafts
Lipid rafts are dynamic, nanoscale domains within cellular membranes that are enriched in cholesterol and sphingolipids. Compared with the surrounding phospholipid bilayer, raft regions exhibit a more ordered, tightly packed state known as liquid-ordered (Lo) domains, while excluding many unsaturated phospholipids. This compositional bias is associated with specific lipid and protein constituents that partition preferentially into rafts.
Common raft components include glycosphingolipids, cholesterol, and proteins anchored by glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) or palmitoylation, as well
Size and dynamics: In living cells, rafts are thought to be nanoscale and highly dynamic, with lifetimes
Detection and controversy: Early work used detergent-resistant membranes to infer raft existence, but this approach can