The Lipid Mural

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Roll mouse over NAME to see systematic name. Scroll to bottom for further information.

Amino acids form a set of building blocks that can be chained and folded at various levels of complexity to perform essential functions. These functions include enzymes which catalyze biochemical reactions, structural proteins which give cells their form, transport proteins which mark or shuttle, receptors and transmembrane channels.

Lipids also constitute a vocabulary of essential functions. First among these is topological separation of the living and non-living world. They separate regions of high entropy outside from regions of high organization inside the cell or subcellular organelle. Lipids tile to form bilateral sheets that fold and undulate forming the living surface of the cell. Most lipids are long polar molecules with water-loving heads and water-hating feet. They float shoulder-to-shoulder and toe-to-toe forming cell walls. Each of the molecules shown here have been annealed and energy minimized to show plausible configurations you can explore.

Use

Five key functions adorn each lipid:

NAME: Hover to see systematic name for this lipid.
OMIM: Click to see genetic diseases related to this lipid.
BIND: Click to see pathways that include this lipid.
LIPOME: Click to see 2D structure, naming and category information.
CHIME: Left-click any lipid to move it. Right-click to change its visual representation.

This scientific mural is optimized for 1600 x 1200 screen resolution, smaller screens will autoscroll.

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