Membranes are an essential component of all cells since without them the cell cannot assert its identity or subdivide its functions into specialized compartments. Phospholipids are the major building block of membranes, which has made them an important target for study. In addition to this structural role, much work over the last 25 years has revealed that phospholipids serve another crucial function in eukaryotic, particularly mammalian, cells; they are a reservoir from which cells generate intracellular and intercellular messengers.
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Stephen M. Prescott (1997) studied this question.