They observed the distribution of membrane lipid in an artificial raft monolayer by the introduction of small tag, alkyne, in a specific lipid which composes an ordered domain. Their developed methodology of alkyne-tag Raman imaging enables to visualize the heterogeneous distribution of the target lipid even in the raft-like ordered domain. This methodology is expected to contribute to a new analysis and an elucidation of the distribution of cell membrane lipid.
Researcher Information
The Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO)
Sodeoka Live Cell Chemistry Project
Research Theme “Elucidation of the mechanism of necrosis (cell death) on the molecular level”
Murata lipid active structure project
Research Theme “Elucidation of the Lipid Structures in and around Proteins”
Journal Information
Jun Ando, Masanao Kinoshita, Jin Cui, Hiroyuki Yamakoshi, Kosuke Dodo, Katsumasa Fujita, Michio Murata, and Mikiko Sodeoka. “Sphingomyelin distribution in lipid rafts of artificial monolayer membranes visualized by Raman microscopy”. Published in the March 30 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1418088112.
Contact
[About Research]
Mikiko Sodeoka Ph.D.
Director, Synthetic Organic Chemistry Laboratory, RIKEN
E-mail: 
[About Research]
Michio Murata, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemistry, Osaka University
E-mail: 
[About Program]
Tsuyoshi Nakamura, Takeshi Ohyama
Department of Research Project, JST
E-mail: 