Effect of hydrophobic mismatch and interdigitation on sterol/sphingomyelin interaction in ternary bilayer membranes

► Biologically relevant sphingomyelin (SM) species are often asymmetric molecules. ► It is unclear how asymmetry affects interactions with cholesterol. ► We made SM analogs with saturated acyl chains which are 14 to 24 carbons long. ► We show that SM asymmetry affected sterol interaction. ► The most favorable interaction was seen between cholesterol and 16:0-SM.