Lipids

Defintion of lipids:

hydrophobic small molecules

slightly soluble in organic solvent (e.g. chloroform or methyl alcohol)

Main functions:

storage lipids

membrane lipids

semiochemical

Storage lipids

Triacylglycerol (TAG)

Ester-linkage

Glycerol+3 fatty acids ->Triacylglycerol

adipocytes

a) b)

a) guinea pigb) arabidopsis(Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Fourth Edition - David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox, p.346)

Fatty acids

Garboxyl group

Hydrocarbon chain

saturated unsaturated

Membrane lipids

micelle bilayerliposome

(Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Fourth Edition - David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox, p.372)

Membran lipids

Phospholipids: Glycerophospholipids, Sphingolipids

Glycolipids: Sphingolipids, Galactolipids

Phospholipids

Glycerophospholipids

Gly

cero

l Fatty acid

Fatty acidPO4 Alcohol

Sphingolipids

Sphi

ngos

ine

Fatty acid

PO4 Choline

Glycolipids

Sphingolipids Galactolipids

Gly

cero

lFatty acidFatty acidFatty acid

Sphi

ngos

ine

Mono- oroligosaccharide

Mono- oroligosaccharide (SO4)

Glycerophospholipid Glycolipid, Sphingolipid

phosphatidylcholin

sphingomyelin

Sources:

Lehninger, Principles of Biochemistry, Fourth Edition - David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox

Georg Thieme, Biochemie,2006,Joachim Rassow, Karin Hauser, Roland Netzker, Rainer Deutzmann