POPC (1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-''glycero''-3-phosphocholine) is a
phosphatidylcholine
Phosphatidylcholines (PC) are a class of phospholipids that incorporate choline as a headgroup.
They are a major component of biological membranes and can easily be obtained from a variety of readily available sources, such as egg yolk or soyb ...
. It is a
diacylglycerol phospholipid
Phospholipids are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typ ...
. It is an important phospholipid for biophysical experiments and has been used to study various subjects such as
lipid raft
The cell membrane, plasma membranes of cells contain combinations of glycosphingolipids, cholesterol and protein Receptor (biochemistry), receptors organized in glycolipoprotein lipid microdomains termed lipid rafts. Their existence in cellular me ...
s. POPC is also used in systems mimicking the cell membrane such as
Nanodiscs. It is available commercially
and is naturally present in
eukaryotic
The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...
cell membranes.
References
{{Phospholipids
Phosphatidylcholines
Phospholipids