Functional Organization of Biomembranes

Abstract

Lipidology is, to a large extent, also membranology. The intracellular lipid species [34] can be classified either as storage lipids, represented chiefly by the neutral and apolar triglycerides that form spherical inclusions in plasmatic phases, or as amphiphilic structural lipids, which form extended, sheetlike structures, and which are, by and large, identical with biomembrane lipids. Biomembranes comprise up to 30% of a cell’s dry weight. In energy-transducing organelles, biomembranes amount to still higher percentages.