Molecule lipid

Another important class of materials which can be successfiilly described by mesoscopic and contimiiim models are amphiphilic systems. Amphiphilic molecules consist of two distinct entities that like different enviromnents. Lipid molecules, for instance, comprise a polar head that likes an aqueous enviromnent and one or two hydrocarbon tails that are strongly hydrophobic. Since the two entities are chemically joined together they cannot separate into macroscopically large phases. If these amphiphiles are added to a binary mixture (say, water and oil) they greatly promote the dispersion of one component into the other. At low amphiphile... 

The relation between the architecture of the molecules and the spatial morphology into which they assemble has attracted longstanding interest because of their importance in daily life. Lipid molecules are important constituents of the cell membrane. Amphiphilic molecules are of major importance for teclmological applications (e.g., in detergents and the food industry). 

Although extraction of lipids from membranes can be induced in atomic force apparatus (Leckband et al., 1994) and biomembrane force probe (Evans et al., 1991) experiments, spontaneous dissociation of a lipid from a membrane occurs very rarely because it involves an energy barrier of about 20 kcal/mol (Cevc and Marsh, 1987). However, lipids are known to be extracted from membranes by various enzymes. One such enzyme is phospholipase A2 (PLA2), which complexes with membrane surfaces, destabilizes a phospholipid, extracts it from the membrane, and catalyzes the hydrolysis reaction of the srir2-acyl chain of the lipid, producing lysophospholipids and fatty acids (Slotboom et al., 1982 Dennis, 1983 Jain et al., 1995). SMD simulations were employed to investigate the extraction of a lipid molecule from a DLPE monolayer by human synovial PLA2 (see Eig. 6b), and to compare this process to the extraction of a lipid from a lipid monolayer into the aqueous phase (Stepaniants et al., 1997). 

Chemists and biochemists And it convenient to divide the principal organic substances present m cells into four mam groups carbohydrates proteins nucleic acids and lipids Structural differences separate carbo hydrates from proteins and both of these are structurally distinct from nucleic acids Lipids on the other hand are characterized by a physical property their solubility m nonpolar solvents rather than by their structure In this chapter we have examined lipid molecules that share a common biosynthetic origin m that all their carbons are derived from acetic acid (acetate) The form m which acetate occurs m many of these processes is a thioester called acetyl coenzyme A... 

Biological membranes provide the essential barrier between cells and the organelles of which cells are composed. Cellular membranes are complicated extensive biomolecular sheetlike structures, mostly fonned by lipid molecules held together by cooperative nonco-valent interactions. A membrane is not a static structure, but rather a complex dynamical two-dimensional liquid crystalline fluid mosaic of oriented proteins and lipids. A number of experimental approaches can be used to investigate and characterize biological membranes. However, the complexity of membranes is such that experimental data remain very difficult to interpret at the microscopic level. In recent years, computational studies of membranes based on detailed atomic models, as summarized in Chapter 21, have greatly increased the ability to interpret experimental data, yielding a much-improved picture of the structure and dynamics of lipid bilayers and the relationship of those properties to membrane function [21]. 

Two physically reasonable but quite different models have been used to describe the internal motions of lipid molecules observed by neutron scattering. In the first the protons are assumed to undergo diffusion in a sphere [63]. The radius of the sphere is allowed to be different for different protons. Although the results do not seem to be sensitive to the details of the variation in the sphere radii, it is necessary to have a range of sphere volumes, with the largest volume for methylene groups near the ends of the hydrocarbon chains in the middle of the bilayer and the smallest for the methylenes at the tops of the chains, closest to the bilayer surface. This is consistent with the behavior of the carbon-deuterium order parameters,. S cd, measured by deuterium NMR ... 

The structure of the LH2 complex of R. acidophila is both simple and elegant (Figure 12.17). It is a ring of nine identical units, each containing an a and a P polypeptide of 53 and 41 residues, respectively, which both span the membrane once as a helices (Figure 12.18). The two polypeptides bind a total of three chlorophyll molecules and two carotenoids. The nine heterodimeric units form a hollow cylinder with the a chains forming the inner wall and the P chains the outer wall. The hole in the middle of the cylinder is empty, except for lipid molecules from the membrane. 

The lipids found in biological systems are either hydrophobic (containing only nonpolar groups) or amphipathic, which means they possess both polar and nonpolar groups. The hydrophobic nature of lipid molecules allows membranes to act as effective barriers to more polar molecules. In this chapter, we discuss the chemical and physical properties of the various classes of lipid molecules. The following chapter considers membranes, whose properties depend intimately on their lipid constituents. 

Amphipathic lipids spontaneously form a variety of structures when added to aqueous solution. All these structures form in ways that minimize contact between the hydrophobic lipid chains and the aqueous milieu. For example, when small amounts of a fatty acid are added to an aqueous solution, a mono-layer is formed at the air-water interface, with the polar head groups in contact with the water surface and the hydrophobic tails in contact with the air (Figure 9.2). Few lipid molecules are found as monomers in solution. 

Further addition of fatty acid eventually results in the formation of micelles. Micelles formed from an amphipathic lipid in water position the hydrophobic tails in the center of the lipid aggregation with the polar head groups facing outward. Amphipathic molecules that form micelles are characterized by a unique critical micelle concentration, or CMC. Below the CMC, individual lipid molecules predominate. Nearly all the lipid added above the CMC, however, spontaneously forms micelles. Micelles are the preferred form of aggregation in water for detergents and soaps. Some typical CMC values are listed in Figure 9.3. 

An important aspect of membrane structure is the orientation or ordering of lipid molecules in the bilayer. In the bilayers sketched in Figures 9.2 and 9.4, the long axes of the lipid molecules are portrayed as being perpendicular (or... 

Certain proteins are found to be covalently linked to lipid molecules. For many of these proteins, covalent attachment of lipid is required for association with a membrane. The lipid moieties can insert into the membrane bilayer, effectively anchoring their linked proteins to the membrane. Some proteins with covalently linked lipid normally behave as soluble proteins others are integral... 

Qiu X, Mistry A, Ammirati MJ et al (2007) Crystal structure of cholesteryl ester transfer protein reveals a long tunnel and four bound lipid molecules. Nat Struct Mol Biol 14 106-113... 

Controlled-release drug delivery systems mimic nature. Molecules called lipids are found in fats and also form the membranes of living cells. A lipid molecule is similar in struc-... 

There is a substantial weight of evidence for the cytoskeleton being responsible for the force production and control of cell locomotion. This view has not yet been accepted unanimously. However, an alternative hypothesis continues to be argued which states that membrane cycling is the motive force driving cell locomotion (Bretscher, 1987). One of the predictions of the membrane flow hypothesis is that there should be a discernible flow of lipid from the front to the rear of the cell. Lipid flow has proven very difficult to study, because of the lack of suitable methods to label single lipid molecules and the heterogenous behavior of membrane-associated proteins. The observation that particles were transported rearward when they bound... 

The values for the lipid molecules compare well (althoughJgiey are still somewhat larger) with the experimental value of 1.5x10 cm /s as measured with the use of a nitroxide spin label. We note that the discrepancy of one order of magnitude, as found in the previous simulation with simplified head groups, is no longer observed. Hence we may safely conclude that the diffusion coefficient of the lipid molecules is determined by hydrodynamic interactions of the head groups with the aqueous layer rather than by the interactions within the lipid layer. The diffusion coefficient of water is about three times smaller than the value of the pure model water thus the water in the bilayer diffuses about three times slower than in the bulk. 

In the first step, lipid model membranes have been generated (Fig. 15) on the air/liquid interface, on a glass micropipette (see Section VIII.A.1), and on an aperture that separates two cells filled with subphase (see Section VIII.A.2). Further, amphiphilic lipid molecules have been self-assembled in an aqueous medium surrounding unilamellar vesicles (see Section VIII.A.3). Subsequently, the S-layer protein of B. coagulans E38/vl, B. stearother-mophilus PV72/p2, or B. sphaericus CCM 2177 have been injected into the aqueous subphase (Fig. 15). As on solid supports, crystal growth of S-layer lattices on planar or vesicular lipid films is initiated simultaneously at many randomly distributed nucleation... 

The S-layer protein interacts with the head groups of the lipid molecules [139]... 

FIG. 16 Fomation of a Langmuir lipid monolayer at the air/subphase interface and the subsequent crystallization of S-layer protein, (a) Amphiphilic lipid molecules are placed on the air/subphase interface between two barriers. Upon compression between the barriers, increase in surface pressure can be determined by a Wilhelmy plate system, (b) Depending on the final area, a liquid-expanded or liquid-condensed lipid monolayer is formed, (c) S-layer subunits injected in the subphase crystallized into a coherent S-layer lattice beneath the spread lipid monolayer and the adjacent air/subphase interface. 

The fluid lipid film is driven into a state of higher order, especially at low surface pressure [138] S-layer coating of liposomes leads to an ordering effect of the lipid molecules [123]... 

Lipid bilayers are formed by self-assembly, driven by the hydrophobic effect. When lipid molecules come together in a bilayer, the entropy of the surrounding solvent molecules increases. 

The most likely way for pardaxin molecules to insert across the membrane in an antiparallel manner is for them to form antiparallel aggregates on the membrane surface that then insert across the membrane. We developed a "raft"model (data not shown) that is similar to the channel model except that adjacent dimers are related to each other by a linear translation instead of a 60 rotation about a channel axis. All of the large hydrophobic side chains of the C-helices are on one side of the "raft" and all hydrophilic side chains are on the other side. We postulate that these "rafts" displace the lipid molecules on one side of the bilayer. When two or more "rafts" meet they can insert across the membrane to form a channel in a way that never exposes the hydrophilic side chains to the lipid alkyl chains. The conformational change from the "raft" to the channel structure primarily involves a pivoting motion about the "ridge" of side chains formed by Thr-17, Ala-21, Ala-25, and Ser-29. These small side chains present few steric barriers for the postulated conformational change. 

Fig. 8.1 Biosynthesis of peptidoglycan. The large circles represent A -acetylglucosamine orN-acetylmuramic acid to the latter is linked initially a pentapeptide chain comprising L-alanine, D-glutamic acid and meso-diaminopiraelic acid (small circles) terminating in two D-alanine residues (small, darker circles). The lipid molecule is undecaprenyl phosphate. In the initial (cytoplasm) stage where inhibition by the antibiotic D-cycloserine is shown, two molecules of Dalanine (small circles) are converted by an isomerase to the D-forms (small, darker circles), alter which a ligase joins the two D-alanines together to produce a D-alanyl-D-alanine dipeptide.

Oleosomes — Also called oil bodies, oleosomes are the natural equivalents of liposomes. They are found in plant seeds or fruits, filled with oils, pigments, and vitamins, and serve as specific organelles to store lipid molecules. A protocol to... 

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