CRC 858 - B04: Cooperativity of Membrane Lipid Domain Organization Mediated by Peripherally Associated Proteins: Principles and Visualization

Basic data for this project

Description

Cellular membranes are highly dynamic entities that organize into spatially and temporally restricted domains containing specific sets of lipids and proteins. This dynamic membrane organization is of fundamental importance for many cellular processes including signal transduction and membrane trafficking. By combining biochemical and chemical approaches, the project addresses the question whether lipid microdomain formation is mediated primarily by cooperative lipid-lipid or lipid-protein interactions. A specific focus is on the membrane binding protein annexin A2 that can induce the formation of cholesterol-rich membrane domains. In a second part this project addresses the synthesis and characterization of novel lipid-like imidazolium salts that will be used to visualize and specifically manipulate cholesterol-rich membrane domains.