On the Geometrical Arrangement of the Protein Subunits of Human Serum Low-Density Lipoprotein: Evidence for a Dodecahedral Model
Abstract
Ultracentrifugal and electron microscopic studies of human serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and several of its derivatives led to the formulation of a model in which the 20 protein subunits, probably globular, are arranged in a dodecahedral pattern with icosahedral symmetry. In such a model the LDL surface is occupied by both protein and lipids, predominantly phospholipids, as supported by the results of the hydrolysis of LDL by phospholipase A and C. Neutral lipids (cholesterol esters and glycerides) would be in the interior of the molecule.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- September 1969
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.64.1.304
- Bibcode:
- 1969PNAS...64..304P