Membrane asymmetry means that the two sides of membrane are structurally, physically and functionally different. Membrane asymmetry is largely related to the lipid sidedness and particularly to compositional (lipid head and acyl group) and physical (lipid packing order, charge, hydration and H-bonding interactions) differences in the inner and outer leaflets of lipid bilayer. Chemically, structurally and conformationally different non-covalent bound lipid molecules are physically fluid and deformable and enable to interact dynamically to form transient arrangements with asymmetry both perpendicular and parallel to the plane of the lipid bilayer. Although biological membranes are almost universally asymmetric however the asymmetry is not absolute since only drastic difference in the number of lipids per leaflet is found and symmetric arrangements are possible. Asymmetry is thought to direct and influence many core biological functions by altering the membrane's collective biochemical, biophysical and structural properties. Asymmetric transbilayer lipid distribution is found across all lipid classes, cells and near all endomembrane compartments. Why cell membranes are (a)symmetric and adopt almost exclusively highly entropically disfavored asymmetric state?
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March 2023
Issue Editors
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The cover for this issue of Emerging Topics in Life Science features homogeneous membranes at macroscale have non-uniform molecular distribution at mesoscale. Read more in “Close, but not too close: A mesoscopic description of (a)symmetry and membrane shaping mechanisms” from Pezeshkian and colleagues on pp 81-93.
Editorial|
March 29 2023
The power and challenge of lipid (a)symmetry across the membrane and cell
Mikhail Bogdanov
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, U.S.A
Correspondence: Mikhail Bogdanov (mikhail.v.bogdanov@uth.tmc.edu)
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
January 29 2023
Revision Received:
February 02 2023
Accepted:
February 02 2023
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2023
Emerg Top Life Sci (2023) 7 (1): 1–6.
Article history
Received:
January 29 2023
Revision Received:
February 02 2023
Accepted:
February 02 2023
Citation
Mikhail Bogdanov; The power and challenge of lipid (a)symmetry across the membrane and cell. Emerg Top Life Sci 31 March 2023; 7 (1): 1–6. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20220088
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