Lipid-Rafts – Specialized Areas of the Plasma Membrane

Plasma membranes are dynamic compartments with key functions in solute transport, cell shape and in communication between cells and the environment. In all organisms plasma membranes are compartmented into sterol-rich microdomains, which are defined by their resistance to treatment with non-ionic detergents and have specific roles in signal transduction and regulatory processes. This microdomains are called "lipid rafts”. Now the composition of true sterol-dependent 'raft proteins' and sterol-independent 'non-raft' proteins was for the first time experimentally clearly defined.