A proteolipid is a protein covalently linked to lipid molecules, which can be fatty acids, isoprenoids or sterols. The process of such a linkage is known as protein lipidation, and falls into the wider category of acylation and post-translational modification. Proteolipids are abundant in brain tissue, and are also present in many other animal and plant tissues. They include ghrelin, a peptide hormone associated with feeding. Many proteolipids have bound fatty acid chains,[1] which often provide an interface for interacting with biological membranes[2] and act as lipidons that direct proteins to specific zones.[3]
Proteolipids were discovered serendipitously in 1951 by Jordi Folch Pi and Marjorie Lees while extracting sulfatides from brain lipids.[4]
They are not to be confused with lipoproteins, a kind of spherical assembly made up of many molecules of lipids and some apolipoproteins.
lipidhome was invoked but never defined (see the help page).