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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jun 18.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Membr Biol. 2004 May-Jun;21(3):193–205. doi: 10.1080/09687680410001700517

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Plasma membrane compartmentalisation.

Plasma membrane microdomains exist within a secondary macro-organisation imposed by the actin cytoskeleton and anchored transmembrane proteins. A variety of types of microdomain have been identified, however their size, organisation and distribution remain to be accurately determined. Caveolae and lipid rafts are cholesterol-dependent microdomains whose organisation is proposed to facilitate sorting of proteins and lipids that can intercalate into the highly ordered structure. Caveolin drives the formation of caveolae and is proposed to interact with a wide variety of proteins via the caveolin scaffolding domain. This Figure is reproduced in colour in Molecular Membrane Biology on-line.