Lipid rafts are subdomains of the plasma membrane that contain high concentrations of
cholesterol and glycosphingolipids. They exist as distinct liquid-ordered regions of the
membrane that are resistant to extraction with nonionic detergents. Rafts appear to be small
in size, but may constitute a relatively large fraction of the plasma membrane. While rafts
have a distinctive protein and lipid composition, all rafts do not appear to be identical in
terms of either the proteins or the lipids that they contain. A variety of proteins, especially …