In vertebrates, the formation of raft lipid microdomains plays an important part in both
polarized protein sorting and signal transduction. To establish a system in which raft-
dependent processes could be studied genetically, we have analyzed the protein and lipid
composition of these microdomains in Drosophila melanogaster. Using mass spectrometry,
we identified the phospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterols present inDrosophila
membranes. Despite chemical differences betweenDrosophila and mammalian lipids, their …