Organization of ganglioside G M1 in phosphatidylcholine bilayers

Abstract

Molecules of the ganglioside G M1 are randomly distributed in liquid-crystalline 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl phosphatidylcholine bilayers. This conclusion is based on a freeze-etch electron microscopic study using ferritin-conjugated cholera toxin and cholera toxin alone as ganglioside labels. The average number of G M1 molecules under a label is calculated by a novel method from the dependence of the fraction of bilayer area covered by the label on the mole fraction of G M1 in the bilayer.