Transverse Distribution of Phospholipids in Organelle Membranes from Ricinus communis L. var. Hale Endosperm

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Abstract
Phospholipase A(2) (Naja naja), the nonpenetrating dye trinitrobenzene sulfonate, and the penetrating dye dinitrofluorobenzene, were used to determine the transmembrane distributions of phospholipids of mitochondria and glyoxysomes isolated from endosperm tissue of castor bean (Ricinus communis L. var. Hale). These studies indicated that the phospholipid distributions were distinctly asymmetric in the accessible (reacted with the probes without total membrane disruption by detergents) pools of the glyoxysomal and inner mitochondrial membranes, but more nearly symmetric in the outer mitochondrial membrane. However, significant quantities of the phospholipids of the mitochondrial membranes were inaccessible to the probes used. An increased accessibility of the phospholipids of all membranes following Triton X-100 dispersion was found, and protein to phospholipid ratios in organelle membranes were found to correlate inversely with the accessibility of the phospholipids to the probes. The inaccessible phospholipids may be involved in lipid-protein interactions.