What is it about?
Cholesterol is a key component of cell membranes. How it influences membrane stiffness and bending propensities has significant effects on the biological function of membranes. For more than a decade, cholesterol was thought to have no stiffening effects on membranes of unsaturated lipids, which are abundant in cell membranes. This paper confirms the stiffening effects of cholesterol on the nanoscale using a suite of synergistic approaches.
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Why is it important?
Our findings point to scale-dependent emergence of cholesterol-induced membrane properties, and reconcile structure-property relations on the nanoscale. This clarifies a long-debated picture of the stiffening effect of cholesterol in lipid membranes and calls for a reassessment of the regulatory role of cholesterol in important membrane processes, including viral budding and cell signaling.
Perspectives
This study showcases the effective combination of neutron spectroscopy, NMR relaxometry, and MD simulations in uncovering nanoscale phenomena and enabling new discoveries in biomimetic membranes.
Rana Ashkar
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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This page is a summary of: How cholesterol stiffens unsaturated lipid membranes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2004807117.
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