Abstract
All biomembranes are asymmetric, and it is easy to rationalize why this should be so, since all membranes have two faces, exposed to different environments, e.g., cytoplasmic and extracytoplasmic. Therefore, transverse asymmetry, differentiating the two monolayer halves of the bilayer, is sensible. Membrane protein asymmetry is clearly a consequence of the way in which the proteins are originally inserted into the membrane. The rate of protein flip-flop across the bilayer is negligible. The term “flip-flop” is generally used to denote a rotation of 180 degrees about an axis in the plane of the membrane. Membrane lipids are also asymmetrically disposed, most convincingly demonstrated in the case of the red blood cell. How lipid transverse asymmetry originates and is maintained is not entirely clear at this time. Physical forces, such as those caused by extreme membrane curvature, may be important in some cases, but cytoskeletal interactions and possibly ATP-requiring enzyme “flipases” may be generally important.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gennis, R.B. (1989). Lateral and Transverse Asymmetry in Membranes. In: Biomembranes. Springer Advanced Texts in Chemistry. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2065-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2065-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-2067-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2065-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive