The effect of headgroup class on the conformation of membrane lipids in Acholeplasma Laidlawii: A 2H-NMR study

✍ Scribed by Mark Rance; Ian C.P. Smith; Harold C. Jarrell

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 807 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-3084
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-3084(83)90070-1

✦ Synopsis

2-~H2]Oleic, [2-2H~]palmitic, [2-2H~]dihydrosterculic and [3-2H2]oleic acids were biosynthetically incorporated into the membrane lipids of Acholeplasma laidlawii B. 2H-NMR spectroscopy and spectral 'de-Paking' (M. Bloom, J.H. Davis and M.I. Valic, Can. J. Phys., 58 (1980) 1510) were used to study the effect of lipid headgroup class on the conformational order in the vicinity of the C-2 position of the acyl chains of lipids in the liquid crystalline phase. The results indicate that although the orientation and conformations of the membrane lipids in the region of the C-2 position of the chains are qualitatively very similar among the various lipid classes, quantitatively there are some differences, particularly between the glycolipids and the phospholipids. These differences do not extend to the C-3 position. Unlike the headgroup class, the membrane proteins appear to have little if any effect on the molecular ordering of the lipids.