A study on the phosphatidic acid phase transition parameters

Chain length dependence of phosphatidic acid phase transition parameters. There is increasing evidence that phosphatidic acids (PA) play a key role in aggregation, fusion and transport processes in cellular membranes although these molecules are normally minor components in natural membranes. Since some intrinsic membrane proteins preferentially bind acid phospholipids, it is reasonable to assume that the membrane protein conformation is influenced by this microenvironment rather than by the properties of bulk lipid. Aim of this work was to determine the chain length dependence of Tt (transition temperature) for PA bilayers by means of DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) measurements.