Glycans pattern the phase behaviour of lipid membranes

The exterior surface of cell membranes in eukaryotes is surrounded by glycans. It is now found that the spatial configuration of these polysaccharide molecules controls the phase behaviour of multiphase lipid membranes—either by stabilizing ordered lipid domains or by suppressing macroscopic lipid phase separation—and that this glycan-induced patterning is thermally reversible.