Membrane compartmentation and the response to antigen

Antigen-receptor engagement is a complex, highly orchestrated rearrangement of signaling molecules at, and adjacent to, the plasma membrane. Recent di scoveries have shown that the plasma membrane itself is differentiated into microdomains of distinct lipid constituents and that the affiliation of li pid-modified proteins with those domains has important implications for ant igen-receptor function. Disruption of lipid microdomains by a variety of me thods attenuates TCR signal transduction.