Function and Structure Analysis of Glycolipid Microdomains

Abstract

Glycosphingolipids are not uniformly present in cell membranes and form microdomains called glycolipid microdomains together with sphingomyelin and cholesterol. Many signaling molecules accumulate there, and glycolipid composition greatly influences signal transmission efficiency. Therefore, analyzing the dynamics and structure of glycolipid microdomains is very important in understanding life phenomena. In recent glycolipid microdomain studies, along with biochemical methods, analysis of membrane molecular dynamics by fluorescence microscopy, localization analysis using an electron microscope, and lipid structure analysis by mass spectrometry have been conducted. In this review, I mainly introduce the glycolipid microdomain analysis method using fluorescence microscopy and mass spectrometry.

A Study of a Mouse Thymus Sialidase and AIRE-Positive Neu-Medullocytes

“…For example, we can now consider whether NEU1 sialidase contributes to the first step of the tight interactions (44) between T cells and epithelial cells or not. In this regard, it must be important to study the interactions of functional proteins and lipids dynamically in the membrane of the limited part (i.e., lipid raft) from a new point of view(45,46), which may determine the position and function of the proteins. It must be also important to think about the complex formation of the functional proteins with low molecular weight proteins such as tetraspanin.…”