FRANCISCO J. BARRANTES#,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.6, pp. 1479-1484, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016502
Abstract Cholesterol is a major lipid in biological membranes. It not only plays a structural role but also modulates a
wide range of functional properties of neurotransmitter and hormone receptors and ion channels. The membraneembedded segments of the paradigm neurotransmitter receptor for acetylcholine (nAChR) contain linear sequences of
amino acids with the capacity to recognize cholesterol. These cholesterol consensus domains have been designated as
“CARC” and its mirror sequence “CRAC”. CARC preferentially occurs in the exoplasmic-facing membrane leaflet,
and CRAC, in the cytoplasmic-facing hemilayer. Both motifs are highly conserved among ion-channel and
neurotransmitter receptor proteins in vertebrate nervous systems, where they… More >
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