Lipid rafts and signal transduction

K Simons, D Toomre - Nature reviews Molecular cell biology, 2000 - nature.com
Nature reviews Molecular cell biology, 2000nature.com
Signal transduction is initiated by complex protein–protein interactions between ligands,
receptors and kinases, to name only a few. It is now becoming clear that lipid micro-
environments on the cell surface—known as lipid rafts—also take part in this process. Lipid
rafts containing a given set of proteins can change their size and composition in response to
intra-or extracellular stimuli. This favours specific protein–protein interactions, resulting in
the activation of signalling cascades.
Abstract
Signal transduction is initiated by complex protein–protein interactions between ligands, receptors and kinases, to name only a few. It is now becoming clear that lipid micro-environments on the cell surface — known as lipid rafts — also take part in this process. Lipid rafts containing a given set of proteins can change their size and composition in response to intra- or extracellular stimuli. This favours specific protein–protein interactions, resulting in the activation of signalling cascades.
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