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Updated: Dec 30, 2025

High-throughput Crystallization of Membrane Proteins Using the Lipidic Bicelle Method
Published on: January 9, 2012
The Effect of the Phospholipid Bilayer Environment on Cholesterol Crystal Polymorphism
Neta Varsano1, Fabio Beghi2, Tali Dadosh3
1Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl Street, Rehovot, Israel.
Abstract:
Cholesterol crystallization from mixtures of unesterified cholesterol with phospholipids and cholesterol esters is believed to be a key event in atherosclerosis progression. Not much is understood, however, about the influence of the lipid environment on cholesterol crystallization. Here we study cholesterol monohydrate crystal formation from mixed bilayers with palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC), dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and sphingomyelin. We show that disordered phospholipids and sphingomyelin stabilize the formation of crystal plates of the triclinic cholesterol monohydrate polymorph, whereas saturated glycerolipids stabilize helical and tubular crystals of the metastable monoclinic polymorph. We followed the subsequent transformation of these helical crystals into the stable triclinic plates. Discovering the relations between membrane lipid composition and cholesterol crystal polymorphism may provide important clues to the understanding of cholesterol crystal formation in atherosclerosis.
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