Er level of regulation [199].Prog Lipid Res. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 April 01.Carquin et al.PageFinally, proteins can be associated to the membrane by post-translational addition of lipid anchors, including (i) GPI anchors; (ii) myristic/palmitic acid tails; and (iii) isoprenylation [200]. GPI-anchored proteins are located to the extracellular PM leaflet while the others are on the cytoplasmic leaflet. Each one differs by the length and the saturation of the acyl chains. GPI-anchored and palmitoylated proteins have mostly long saturated acyl chains and are suspected to be associated with lipid rafts, while proteins bound to the membrane by isoprenyl and myristoyl anchors have shorter and/or unsaturated acyl chains that seem less clustered in membranes [201]. Moreover, such protein lipidations can be dynamically regulated. GPI-anchored proteins can be released from the membrane by the action of a PIspecific phospholipase C [202] and the membrane anchorage of myristoylated proteins can be activated by a “ligand”-dependent conformational change of the protein leading to exposure of the myristoyl moiety previously NSC 697286 dose sequestered in the protein [203]. Palmitoylation is the only one which is reversible thanks to protein acylthioesterases responsible for the removal of the palmitate [204]. All these mechanisms may be relevant for spatial and temporal regulation of signaling and shaping events. 5.2.2. Interactions between the plasma membrane and the cortical cytoskeleton or the cell wall–The interaction between PM and the cortical actin cytoskeleton represents another important factor for lipid domain biogenesis/maintenance. By studying the movement of unsaturated phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in rat fibroblasts, Kusumi and coll. suggested that the PM is compartmentalized into large areas ( 750nm in diameter) containing smaller regions ( 230nm in diameter). This appears to result from an actin-based membrane cytoskeleton fence structure with anchored transmembrane proteins acting as pickets [21]. Electron tomography reconstruction of the cytoskeleton:membrane interface revealed that the PM cytoskeleton covers the entire cytoplasmic surface in close association with clathrin coated pits and caveolea. This double compartmentalization model may explain the slower diffusion rate of lipids observed in cell membranes than that measured in artificial bilayers. A model for the PM organization into three domains of decreasing size and showing cooperative actions was subsequently proposed by Kusumi and coll. [205-207]: (i) the membrane compartment (40-300nm in diameter), corresponding to the PM partitioning mediated by the interactions with the actin-based membrane cytoskeleton (fence) and the transmembrane proteins anchored to the membrane cytoskeleton fence (pickets); (ii) the raft domains (2-20nm) confined by the anchored transmembrane proteins; and (iii) the dynamic protein complex domains (3-10nm), including dimers/oligomers and greater complexes of membrane-associated and integral membrane proteins. This model is supported by the demonstration by Frisz and coll. that actin depolymerization induces a TF14016 chemical information randomization of 15N-SLs in fibroblasts, indicating that SL-enriched domains strongly depend on the actin-based cytoskeleton [25]. More recently, Mayor and co-workers provided experimental and simulation data showing that nanoclustering of GPI-anchored proteins at the outer PM leaflet by dynamic cortical actin is made by the interdigitati.Er level of regulation [199].Prog Lipid Res. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 April 01.Carquin et al.PageFinally, proteins can be associated to the membrane by post-translational addition of lipid anchors, including (i) GPI anchors; (ii) myristic/palmitic acid tails; and (iii) isoprenylation [200]. GPI-anchored proteins are located to the extracellular PM leaflet while the others are on the cytoplasmic leaflet. Each one differs by the length and the saturation of the acyl chains. GPI-anchored and palmitoylated proteins have mostly long saturated acyl chains and are suspected to be associated with lipid rafts, while proteins bound to the membrane by isoprenyl and myristoyl anchors have shorter and/or unsaturated acyl chains that seem less clustered in membranes [201]. Moreover, such protein lipidations can be dynamically regulated. GPI-anchored proteins can be released from the membrane by the action of a PIspecific phospholipase C [202] and the membrane anchorage of myristoylated proteins can be activated by a “ligand”-dependent conformational change of the protein leading to exposure of the myristoyl moiety previously sequestered in the protein [203]. Palmitoylation is the only one which is reversible thanks to protein acylthioesterases responsible for the removal of the palmitate [204]. All these mechanisms may be relevant for spatial and temporal regulation of signaling and shaping events. 5.2.2. Interactions between the plasma membrane and the cortical cytoskeleton or the cell wall–The interaction between PM and the cortical actin cytoskeleton represents another important factor for lipid domain biogenesis/maintenance. By studying the movement of unsaturated phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in rat fibroblasts, Kusumi and coll. suggested that the PM is compartmentalized into large areas ( 750nm in diameter) containing smaller regions ( 230nm in diameter). This appears to result from an actin-based membrane cytoskeleton fence structure with anchored transmembrane proteins acting as pickets [21]. Electron tomography reconstruction of the cytoskeleton:membrane interface revealed that the PM cytoskeleton covers the entire cytoplasmic surface in close association with clathrin coated pits and caveolea. This double compartmentalization model may explain the slower diffusion rate of lipids observed in cell membranes than that measured in artificial bilayers. A model for the PM organization into three domains of decreasing size and showing cooperative actions was subsequently proposed by Kusumi and coll. [205-207]: (i) the membrane compartment (40-300nm in diameter), corresponding to the PM partitioning mediated by the interactions with the actin-based membrane cytoskeleton (fence) and the transmembrane proteins anchored to the membrane cytoskeleton fence (pickets); (ii) the raft domains (2-20nm) confined by the anchored transmembrane proteins; and (iii) the dynamic protein complex domains (3-10nm), including dimers/oligomers and greater complexes of membrane-associated and integral membrane proteins. This model is supported by the demonstration by Frisz and coll. that actin depolymerization induces a randomization of 15N-SLs in fibroblasts, indicating that SL-enriched domains strongly depend on the actin-based cytoskeleton [25]. More recently, Mayor and co-workers provided experimental and simulation data showing that nanoclustering of GPI-anchored proteins at the outer PM leaflet by dynamic cortical actin is made by the interdigitati.