Membrane fluidity plays an important role in cellular functions. Membrane proteins are mobile in the lipid fluid environment; lateral diffusion of membrane proteins is slower than expected by theory, due to both the effect of protein crowding in the membrane and to constraints from the aqueous matrix. A major aspect of diffusion is in macromolecular associations: reduction of dimensionality for membrane diffusion facilitates collisional encounters, as those concerned with receptor-mediated signal transduction and with electron transfer chains. In mitochondrial electron transfer, diffusional control is prevented by the excess of collisional encounters between fast-diffusing ubiquinone and the respiratory complexes. Another aspect of dynamics of membrane proteins is their conformational flexibility. Lipids may induce the optimal conformation for catalytic activity. Breaks in Arrhenius plots of membrane-bound enzymes may be related to lipid fluidity: the break could occur when a limiting viscosity is reached for catalytic activity. Viscosity can affect protein conformational changes by inhibiting thermal fluctuations to the inner core of the protein molecule.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Review Article|
November 01 1987
Lipid fluidity and membrane protein dynamics
Giorgio Lenaz
Giorgio Lenaz
1Department of Biology, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 42, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Search for other works by this author on:
Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
October 30 1987
Online ISSN: 1573-4935
Print ISSN: 0144-8463
© 1987 Plenum Publishing Corporation
1987
Biosci Rep (1987) 7 (11): 823–837.
Article history
Received:
October 30 1987
Citation
Giorgio Lenaz; Lipid fluidity and membrane protein dynamics. Biosci Rep 1 November 1987; 7 (11): 823–837. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01119473
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign in to your personal account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Biochemical Society Member Sign in
Sign InSign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionGet Access To This Article
Open Access for all
We offer compliant routes for all authors from 2025. With library support, there will be no author nor reader charges in 5 journals. Check here |
![]() |