Cell Death and Differentiation (2001) 8, 551 ± 563 ã 2001 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved 1350-9047/01 $15.00 www.nature.com/cdd REVIEW Phosphatidylserine, a death knell# RA Schlegel*,1 and P Williamson2 molecules are sometimes withdrawn from the matrix and hydrolyzed to produce signaling molecules, including 1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State University, prostaglandins, diacylglycerol and ceramides. In recent University Park, PA 16802, USA years, however, a growing body of evidence has suggested 2 Department of Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002, USA that physical and chemical properties of the bilayer itself, such * Corresponding author: RA Schlegel, Department of Biochemistry and as the thickness of the hydrophobic core1 or local lateral Molecular Biology, 428 South Frear Laboratory, Penn State University, 2±4 University Park, PA 16802, USA. Tel: (814) 865-6974; Fax: (814) 863-7024; domains of specialized lipid composition may play E-mail:
[email protected] significant roles in the assembly and organization of cellular membranes. In addition to these structural contributions to Received 30.8.00; revised 13.11.00; accepted 27.11.00 membrane function, the past few years have also seen the Edited by M Piacentini revelation that a phospholipid itself, and not a derived product, acts on the extracytosolic, external face of the plasma membrane to regulate intercellular interactions. Abstract Appreciation of this new role for phospholipids was Virtually every cell in the body restricts phosphatidylserine galvanized by the demonstration that phosphatidylserine (PS) to the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane by energy- (PS) appears on the surface of apoptotic lymphocytes and dependent transport from the outer to the inner leaflet of the contributes to their phagocytosis by activated macro- phages.5 The functional importance of the phagocytosis of bilayer.