Award details

Is the lipid composition of cell membranes regulated by stored curvature elastic stress?

ReferenceB15299
Principal Investigator / Supervisor Professor Richard Templer
Co-Investigators /
Co-Supervisors
Institution Imperial College London
DepartmentChemistry
Funding typeResearch
Value (£) 251,156
StatusCompleted
TypeResearch Grant
Start date 01/08/2001
End date 01/08/2004
Duration36 months

Abstract

A rate limiting step in the biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine (PC) is set by the catalytic activity of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCT). Since PC is the majority membrane lipid this is the critical switch controlling cell membrane growth. Reported measurements of CCT activity with respect to membrane lipid composition appear to be correlated to the release of stored stresses in the membrane, upon CCT binding. We will examine this idea by measuring CCT activity in the presence of lipid vesicles with measured levels of stored stress. CCT activity will be determined by radiochemical array and its partitioning by density gradient centrifugation and titration calorimetry. Membrane stresses will be measured by automated osmometry on ordered phases of the lipids. (Joint with grant 51/B15300).

Summary

unavailable
Committee Closed Committee - Biomolecular Sciences (BMS)
Research TopicsX – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research PriorityX – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative X - not in an Initiative
Funding SchemeX – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme
terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)
export PDF file