Structural studies of cytoskeletal protein arrays formed on lipid monolayers

Lipid monolayers have been widely used for the production of 2-D crystallin e arrays of water-soluble proteins for structural analysis. Less well known is the utility of lipid layers for the assembly of multicomponent structur es in two dimensions. This report summarizes current efforts and limitation s to utilize a monolayer system composed of the quaternary ammonium surfact ant didodecyldimethyammonium and dilaurylphosphatidylcholine to assemble 2- D complexes between actin and cytoskeletal proteins. (C) 1999 Academic Pres s.