IMGT Lexique

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Raft

Also referred to as:

glycolipid-enriched membrane domain
GEMs, membrane glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomains.

They contain GPI-linked proteins, Src-like tyrosine kinases and other proteins targeted to rafts through saturated acyl chains [1-4].

Lipid raft microdomains are important for TcR-mediated activation of T cells [4-9] and concentration of MHC class II molecules on APCs [12]. Lipid rafts have been estimated to vary in size from 50-70nm [10,11].

References:
[1]	Brown D.A and Rose, J.K. Cell 68, 533-544 (1992).
[2]	Shenoy-Scaria A.M. et al. J. Cell. Biol. 126, 353-363 ( 1994).
[3]	Rodgers W. et al. Mol. Cell. Biol. 14, 5384-5391 (1994).
[4]	Rodgers W. and Rose J.K. J. Cell. Biol. 135, 1515-1523 (1996).
[5]	Kabouridis P. S. et al. EMBO J. 16, 4983-4998 (1997).
[6]	Zhang W. et al. Immunity 9, 239-246 (1998).
[7]	Xavier R. et al. Immunity 8, 723-732 (1998).
[8]	Moran M. and Miceli M. C. Immunity 9, 787-796 (1998).
[9]	Montixi C. et al. EMBO J. 17, 5334-5348 (1998).
[10]	Varma R. and Mayor S. Nature 394, 798-801 (1998).
[11]	Pralle A. et al. J. Cell. Biol. 148, 997-1008 (2000).
[12]	Anderson H. A. et al. Nature Immunology 1, 156-162 (2000).