ArticlePLoS pathogens2013
Proving lipid rafts exist: membrane domains in the prokaryote Borrelia burgdorferi have the same properties as eukaryotic lipid rafts.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers.
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Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 117 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mimicking Cellular Membranes With Micropatterned Lipid Bilayers.Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry · 2026Article
- A lipid compendium of a metabolically compromised bacterium provides insights into lipid acquisition, biosynthesis, and metabolism.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Sphingolipid-mediated vesiculation in multidrug-resistantApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Lipid scavenging by the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- LiaR-dependent gene expression contributes to antimicrobial responses in group AAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2024Article
- Flotillin-mediated stabilization of unfolded proteins in bacterial membrane microdomains.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Experimentally determined leaflet-leaflet phase diagram of an asymmetric lipid bilayer.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Cholesterol, Eukaryotic Lipid Domains, and an Evolutionary Perspective of Transmembrane Signaling.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology · 2023Review
- Simvastatin-hydroxyapatite coatings prevent biofilm formation and improve bone formation in implant-associated infections.Bioactive materials · 2023Article
- Agglutination of Borreliella burgdorferi by Transmission-Blocking OspA Monoclonal Antibodies and Monovalent Fab Fragments.Infection and immunity · 2022Article
- Mycobacterial resistance to zinc poisoning requires assembly of P-ATPase-containing membrane metal efflux platforms.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Using cyclodextrin-induced lipid substitution to study membrane lipid and ordered membrane domain (raft) function in cells.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes · 2022Review
- The Exploration of theFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Loss of plasma membrane lipid asymmetry can induce ordered domain (raft) formation.Journal of lipid research · 2022Article
- Lipid larceny: channelizing host lipids for establishing successful pathogenesis by bacteria.Virulence · 2021Review
- BB0562 is a nutritional virulence determinant with lipase activity important for Borrelia burgdorferi infection and survival in fatty acid deficient environments.PLoS pathogens · 2021Article
- Evolution of bacterial steroid biosynthesis and its impact on eukaryogenesis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Effect of 17β-estradiol on a human vaginal Lactobacillus crispatus strain.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Article
- Lyme Disease in Humans.Current issues in molecular biology · 2021Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Lipid rafts in eukaryotic cells are sphingolipid and cholesterol-rich, ordered membrane regions that have been postulated to play roles in many membrane functions, including infection. We previously demonstrated the existence of cholesterol-lipid-rich domains in membranes of the prokaryote, B. burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease [LaRocca et al. (2010) Cell Host & Microbe 8, 331-342]. Here, we show that these prokaryote membrane domains have the hallmarks of eukaryotic lipid rafts, despite lacking sphingolipids. Substitution experiments replacing cholesterol lipids with a set of sterols, ranging from strongly raft-promoting to raft-inhibiting when mixed with eukaryotic sphingolipids, showed that sterols that can support ordered domain formation are both necessary and sufficient for formation of B. burgdorferi membrane domains that can be detected by transmission electron microscopy or in living organisms by Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Raft-supporting sterols were also necessary and sufficient for formation of high amounts of detergent resistant membranes from B. burgdorferi. Furthermore, having saturated acyl chains was required for a biotinylated lipid to associate with the cholesterol-lipid-rich domains in B. burgdorferi, another characteristic identical to that of eukaryotic lipid rafts. Sterols supporting ordered domain formation were also necessary and sufficient to maintain B. burgdorferi membrane integrity, and thus critical to the life of the organism. These findings provide compelling evidence for the existence of lipid rafts and show that the same principles of lipid raft formation apply to prokaryotes and eukaryotes despite marked differences in their lipid compositions.
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