It is now well established that cell membranes are much more than a barrier that separate the cytoplasm from the outside world. Regarding membrane's lipids and their self-assembling, the system is highly complex, for example, the cell membrane needs to adopt different curvatures to be functional. This is possible thanks to the presence of non-lamellar-forming lipids, which tend to curve the membrane. Here, we present the effect of squalane, an apolar isoprenoid molecule, on an archaea-like lipid membrane. The presence of this molecule provokes negative membrane curvature and forces lipids to self-assemble under inverted cubic and inverted hexagonal phases. Such non-lamellar phases are highly stable under a broad range of external extreme conditions, e.g. temperatures and high hydrostatic pressures, confirming that such apolar lipids could be included in the architecture of membranes arising from cells living under extreme environments.

中文翻译：

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非极性聚异戊二烯在高温和高静水压力下诱导古生脂质中的非层状相。

现已公认，细胞膜不仅仅是将细胞质与外界隔离的屏障。关于膜的脂质及其自组装，系统非常复杂，例如，细胞膜需要采用不同的曲率才能发挥功能。由于存在非成膜脂质，这种脂质易于使膜弯曲，因此这是可能的。在这里，我们介绍角鲨烷，一种非极性类异戊二烯分子，对古细菌类脂膜的影响。该分子的存在会引起负膜曲率，并迫使脂质在倒立方和倒六方相下自组装。此类非层状相在各种外部极端条件（例如温度和高静水压力）下具有高度稳定性，