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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Determining Membrane Protein Topology Using Fluorescence Protease Protection (FPP)
Published on: April 20, 2015
Sphingolipid topology and the dynamic organization and function of membrane proteins
Gerrit van Meer1, Sandra Hoetzl
1Bijvoet Center and Institute of Biomembranes, CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. g.vanmeer@uu.nl
Abstract:
When acquiring internal membranes and vesicular transport, eukaryotic cells started to synthesize sphingolipids and sterols. The physical differences between these and the glycerophospholipids must have enabled the cells to segregate lipids in the membrane plane. Localizing this event to the Golgi then allowed them to create membranes of different lipid composition, notably a thin, flexible ER membrane, consisting of glycerolipids, and a sturdy plasma membrane containing at least 50% sphingolipids and sterols. Besides sorting membrane proteins, in the course of evolution the simple sphingolipids obtained key positions in cellular physiology by developing specific interactions with (membrane) proteins involved in the execution and control of signaling. The few signaling sphingolipids in mammals must provide basic transmission principles that evolution has built upon for organizing the specific regulatory pathways tuned to the needs of the different cell types in the body.
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