SPHINGOMYELIN DOMAINS IN THE MILK FAT GLOBULE MEMBRANE

Milk is the only food ressource of mamals’ offspring and brings water and nutrients that are readily usable by the immature newborn. Milkfat is conveyed in the form of lipid droplets surrounded by a 3-layer membrane. We have recently hypothesized that the milk fat globule membrane exhibit lateral segregation of the sphingomyelin and cholesterol into liquid-ordered lipid domains, dispersed into a fluid continuous phase (Lopez 2011). Such planar structuration is suspected to have important consequences on the biological functionality of milk (digestibility, interaction with epithelial cells or bacteria…) as well as on the technological manoeuvrability of milkfat, for instance on cooling and transformation of milk cream into butter.
The goal of the research is to explore, by means of microscopy techniques (AFM, CLSM, possibly TEM), the behaviour of sphingomyelin domains in model lipid bilayers as a function of e.g. temperature and/or cholesterol and/or ionic environment. The study of real membranes or globules will also be undertaken, to draw a link with dairy technology and suggest potentialities for innovation to the industry.

Skills: biophysic of membranes ; microscopies; organic chemistry

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