Abstract
One unique feature of biological membranes is that membrane lipids are not tethered to the site of their synthesis, but are actively transported and assembled into specific sites of cellular membranes. Specialized lipid transport and sorting machineries are now suggested to play crucial roles in the formation of distinct membrane domains, which is involved in highly localized remodeling of membrane structures as well as recruitment and activation of membrane proteins. In this review, we would like to introduce our recent findings on the cellular functions of phospholipidtranslocation machinery, phospholipid flippase, that mediates the net transfer of phospholipids between the inner and outer leaflets of the plasma membrane.
