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First published online 24 February 2009
doi: 10.1242/jcs.037721

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Flagellar membrane localization via association with lipid rafts

¹ BioMedical Research Centre, School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ, UK
² Departments of Pathology and Microbiology-Immunology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
³ Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: d-engman{at}northwestern.edu)

Accepted 21 November 2008

The eukaryotic flagellar membrane has a distinct composition from other domains of the plasmalemma. Our work shows that the specialized composition of the trypanosome flagellar membrane reflects increased concentrations of sterols and saturated fatty acids, correlating with direct observation of high liquid order by laurdan fluorescence microscopy. These findings indicate that the trypanosome flagellar membrane possesses high concentrations of lipid rafts: discrete regions of lateral heterogeneity in plasma membranes that serve to sequester and organize specialized protein complexes. Consistent with this, a dually acylated Ca²⁺ sensor that is concentrated in the flagellum is found in detergent-resistant membranes and mislocalizes if the lipid rafts are disrupted. Detergent-extracted cells have discrete membrane patches localized on the surface of the flagellar axoneme, suggestive of intraflagellar transport particles. Together, these results provide biophysical and biochemical evidence to indicate that lipid rafts are enriched in the trypanosome flagellar membrane, providing a unique mechanism for flagellar protein localization and illustrating a novel means by which specialized cellular functions may be partitioned to discrete membrane domains.

Key words: Flagellum, Membrane microdomains, Membrane fluidity, Acylation, Trypanosoma

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