POPC is a
phosphatidylcholine
Phosphatidylcholines (PC) are a class of phospholipids that incorporate choline as a headgroup.
They are a major component of biological membranes and can be easily obtained from a variety of readily available sources, such as egg yolk or soybea ...
. It is a
diacylglycerol
A diglyceride, or diacylglycerol (DAG), is a glyceride consisting of two fatty acid chains covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through ester linkages. Two possible forms exist, 1,2-diacylglycerols and 1,3-diacylglycerols. DAGs can act as s ...
and
phospholipid. The full name is 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. It is an important phospholipid for biophysical experiments and has been used to study various subjects such as
lipid raft
The plasma membranes of cells contain combinations of glycosphingolipids, cholesterol and protein receptors organised in glycolipoprotein lipid microdomains termed lipid rafts. Their existence in cellular membranes remains somewhat controversial ...
s. POPC is also used in systems mimicking the cell membrane such as
Nanodisc
A nanodisc is a synthetic model membrane system which assists in the study of membrane proteins. Nanodiscs are discoidal proteins in which a lipid bilayer is surrounded by molecules that are amphipathic molecules including proteins, peptides, and ...
s. It is available commercially synthetically
and is naturally present in
eukaryotic
Eukaryotes () are organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the ...
cell membranes.
References
{{Phospholipids
Phosphatidylcholines
Phospholipids