The Binding of Peptides and Proteins to Membranes Containing Anionic Lipid

Abstract

The interaction of proteins with lipids is one of the central problems of membrane biophysics. Of particular interest is that some proteins require a distinct category of lipids for their function. For example, several functionally related groups of proteins that interact preferentially with acidic lipids were discovered in recent years. They include vitamin K-dependent blood coagulation proteins (Jackson and Nemerson, 1980), annexins (Geisow et al., 1987), calpactins (Glenney, 1986), synexins (Creutz et al., 1983), the protein kinase C family (Nishizuka, 1989), and actin-severing or actin-cap-ping proteins (Stossel, 1989). Many other proteins, particularly enzymes, also require acidic lipids for activation (Cornell, 1991; Enyedi et al., 1987; Moritz et al., 1992). There are excellent reviews available on many of the particular groups of proteins that interact with acidic lipids (Geisow et al., 1987; Glenney, 1986; Jackson and Nemerson, 1980; Stossel, 1989). Therefore, we decided to focus this chapter on the roles played by acidic lipids in lipid-protein interactions. For the sake of clarity, we used a limited number of examples to describe the four distinct functions performed by acidic lipids. We also review recent models of the mechanism of acidic lipid-protein interaction.