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This review summarizes recent investigations on the association of macromolecules on lipid bilayers. Hydrophilic and flexible polymers can form soft coronae tenuously adsorbed or anchored on the lipid membrane. Other synthetic macromolecules are embedded in the apolar region of the membrane. Recent experimental and theoretical works focus on the perturbation of lipid properties achieved depending on the nature and strength of binding. Of importance to biomimicry, to tethered model membranes, and drug carriers, the effects achievable include modulation of the lateral diffusivity of lipids, shape distortions, lateral segregations, formation of well-defined nanopores and ultimately the stimuli responsive disruption of the membrane.

The pH response of pH-responsive cell-penetrating peptides in cell membrane is directly associated with many potential applications and cell activities such as drug delivery, membrane fusion, and protein folding, but it is still poorly understood. In this study, we used GALA as a model and applied sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy to systematically investigate the pH response of GALA in lipid bilayers with different hydrophobic length and lipid head groups. We determined the GALA structures in lipid bilayers by combining second-ordered amide I and amide III spectral signals, which can accurately differentiate the loop and α-helical structures at the interface. It is found that GALA can insert into fluid-phase lipid bilayers even at neutral pH, while lies down on the gel-phase lipid bilayer surface. Under acidic conditions, GALA inserts into both fluid-phase and gel-phase lipid bilayers. GALA adopts a mixed loop and α-helical structures in lipid bilayers. Besides, the reversible activation ...

Membrane fusion is a fundamental molecular mechanism by which two apposed membrane bilayers coalesce in rapid, transient steps that enable the successive merging of the outer and inner leaflets allowing lipid intermixing and subsequent mixing of the two previously separate compartments. The actual membrane merger mechanism - fusion, by definition - is conceptualized to be protein- or lipid-centric. According to the widely vetted stalk-pore hypothesis, membrane fusion proceeds via high curvature lipid intermediates. By cleaving membrane phospholipids at the sn-2 position, Phospholipase A2 generates metabolites that exert spontaneous curvature stress (both negative and positive) on the membrane, thus influencing local membrane bending by altering the packing and conformation of lipids and proteins, respectively. Such changes could potentially modulate priming and attachment/docking steps that precede fusion, as well as the membrane merger steps per se.

Supported lipid bilayers have the potential to deliver a breakthrough in separation processes, e.g. , in desalination. Yet, formation of macroscopically large lipid membranes for use in separations and understanding of their long-term mechanical stability, especially, when they host membrane proteins, is still a challenge. Arrays of microscopic pore-spanning lipid membranes are a promising upscalable configuration, in which lipid membranes do not contact support directly, making it attractive for studying their function and stability. Here we report on (1) the formation mechanism of an array of pore-spanning phospholipid membranes via ‘vesicle fusion’, and (2) a microfluidic device that is used to assess the stability of the pore-spanning lipid membrane under flow and osmotic gradient. It is shown that the formation of pore-spanning lipid membranes via ‘vesicles fusion’ proceeds in three steps: first, small vesicles merge into giant ones of about the size of the substrate pore size. The giant vesicles then settle at the pore mouths and flatten. Last, the flattened giant vesicles rupture and form a lipid membrane that closes the pore. Exposing the membrane to combined transmembrane osmotic and tangential shear flows in a microfluidic device, which simulates common osmotic process conditions, shows that, in addition to remaining open pores, a fraction of pore-spanning membranes ruptures. Possible ways to avoid such rupture and minimize fraction of open pores are discussed.

A system based on two designed peptides, namely the cationic peptide K, (KIAALKE)3, and its complementary anionic counterpart called peptide E, (EIAALEK)3, has been used as a minimal model for membrane fusion, inspired by SNARE proteins. Although the fact that docking of separate vesicle populations via the formation of a dimeric E/K coiled-coil complex can be rationalized, the reasons for the peptides promoting fusion of vesicles cannot be fully explained. Therefore it is of significant interest to determine how the peptides aid in overcoming energetic barriers during lipid rearrangements leading to fusion. In this study, investigations of the peptides’ interactions with neutral PC/PE/cholesterol membranes by fluorescence spectroscopy show that tryptophan-labeled K∗ binds to the membrane (KK∗ ∼6.2 103 M−1), whereas E∗ remains fully water-solvated. 15N-NMR spectroscopy, depth-dependent fluorescence quenching, CD-spectroscopy experiments, and MD simulations indicate a helix orientation of K∗ parallel to the membrane surface. Solid-state 31P-NMR of oriented lipid membranes was used to study the impact of peptide incorporation on lipid headgroup alignment. The membrane-immersed K∗ is found to locally alter the bilayer curvature, accompanied by a change of headgroup orientation relative to the membrane normal and of the lipid composition in the vicinity of the bound peptide. The NMR results were supported by molecular dynamics simulations, which showed that K reorganizes the membrane composition in its vicinity, induces positive membrane curvature, and enhances the lipid tail protrusion probability. These effects are known to be fusion relevant. The combined results support the hypothesis for a twofold role of K in the mechanism of membrane fusion: 1) to bring opposing membranes into close proximity via coiled-coil formation and 2) to destabilize both membranes thereby promoting fusion.

We study the formation of membrane budding in model lipid bilayers with the budding assumed to be driven by means of diffusion of trans-membrane proteins over a composite membrane surface. The theo...

The stochastic protrusion of hydrophobic lipid tails into solution, a subclass of hydrophobic membrane defects, has recently been shown to be a critical step in a number of biological processes like membrane fusion. Understanding the factors that govern the appearance of lipid tail protrusions is critical for identifying membrane features that affect the rate of fusion or other processes that depend on contact with solvent-exposed lipid tails. In this work, we utilize atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to characterize the likelihood of tail protrusions in phosphotidylcholine lipid bilayers of varying composition, curvature, and hydration. We distinguish two protrusion modes corresponding to atoms near the end of the lipid tail or near the glycerol group. Through potential of mean force calculations, we demonstrate that the thermodynamic cost for inducing a protrusion depends on tail saturation but is insensitive to other bilayer structural properties or hydration above a threshold value. Similarly, highly curved vesicles or micelles increase both the overall frequency of lipid tail protrusions as well as the preference for splay protrusions, both of which play an important role in driving membrane fusion. In multi-component bilayers, however, the incidence of protrusion events does not clearly depend on the mismatch between tail length or tail saturation of the constituent lipids. Together, these results provide significant physical insight into how system components might affect the appearance of protrusions in biological membranes, and help explain the roles of composition or curvature-modifying proteins in membrane fusion., National Science Foundation (U.S.). MRSEC Program (award number DMR-0819762), National Science Foundation (U.S.). Faculty Early Career Development Program (Award No. DMR-1054671), United States. Department of Energy. Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Program (grant number DE-FG02-97ER25308), National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant number OCI-1053575)

Here we explored a contribution of fusion proteins to stalk formation, the first stage of membrane fusion, and considered two likely mechanisms, by which these proteins could influence the membrane transformation. One mechanism represents the induction of spontaneous membrane curvature, while another is membrane disturbance by a force generated by attached proteins. The energy barrier arising due to the deformation of approaching membranes and hydration repulsion between them was calculated. In addition, a dependence of an energy barrier height on certain protein features, such as spontaneous curvature, was analyzed. It was found that if fusion proteins do not produce a force directly applied to fusing membranes, they negligibly affect the barrier height irrespective of a value of spontaneous protein curvature. Thus, the overall results provide evidence that if fusion proteins are unable to exert force, they cannot provide monolayer fusion of the membranes.

Biomembrane interfaces create regions of slowed water dynamics in their vicinity. When two lipid bilayers come together, this effect is further accentuated, and the associated slowdown can affect the dynamics of larger-scale processes such as membrane fusion. We have used molecular dynamics simulations to examine how lipid and water dynamics are affected as two lipid bilayers approach each other. These two interacting fluid systems, lipid and water, both slow and become coupled when the lipid membranes are separated by a thin water layer. We show in particular that the water dynamics become glassy, and diffusion of lipids in the apposed leaflets becomes coupled across the water layer, while the "outer" leaflets remain unaffected. This dynamic coupling between bilayers appears mediated by lipid-water-lipid hydrogen bonding, as it occurs at bilayer separations where water-lipid hydrogen bonds become more common than water-water hydrogen bonds. We further show that such coupling occurs in simulations of vesicle-vesicle fusion prior to the fusion event itself. Such altered dynamics at membrane-membrane interfaces may both stabilize the interfacial contact and slow fusion stalk formation within the interface region.

Understanding of nanoparticle-membrane interactions is useful for various applications of nanoparticles like drug delivery and imaging. Here we report on the studies of interaction between hydrophilic charged polymer coated semiconductor quantum dot nanoparticles with model lipid membranes. Atomic force microscopy and X-ray reflectivity measurements suggest that cationic nanoparticles bind and penetrate bilayers of zwitterionic lipids. Penetration and binding depend on the extent of lipid packing and result in the disruption of the lipid bilayer accompanied by enhanced lipid diffusion. On the other hand, anionic nanoparticles show minimal membrane binding although, curiously, their interaction leads to reduction in lipid diffusivity. It is suggested that the enhanced binding of cationic QDs at higher lipid packing can be understood in terms of the effective surface potential of the bilayers which is tunable through membrane lipid packing. Our results bring forth the subtle interplay of membrane lipid packing and electrostatics which determine nanoparticle binding and penetration of model membranes with further implications for real cell membranes.

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) have been increasingly used in biological applications that involve potential contact with cellular membranes. As a result, it is essential to gain a physical understanding of NP-membrane interactions to guide the design of next-generation bioactive nanoparticles. In previous work, we showed that charged, amphiphilic NPs can fuse with lipid bilayers after contact between protruding solvent-exposed lipid tails and the NP monolayer. Fusion was only observed at the high-curvature edges of large bilayer defects, but not in low-curvature regions where protrusions are rarely observed. Here, we use atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to show that the same NPs can also fuse with low-curvature bilayers in the absence of defects if NP-protrusion contact occurs, generalizing the results of our previous work. Insertion proceeds without applying biasing forces to the NP, driven by the hydrophobic effect, and involves the transient generation of bilayer curvature. We further find that NPs with long hydrophobic ligands can insert a single ligand into the bilayer core in a manner similar to the binding of peripheral proteins. Such anchoring may precede insertion, revealing potential methods for engineering NP monolayers to enhance NP-bilayer fusion in systems with a low likelihood of lipid tail protrusions. These results reveal new pathways for NP-bilayer fusion and provide fundamental insight into behavior at the nano-bio interface., National Science Foundation (U.S.). Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (Program) (Award DMR-0819762), National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CAREER Award DMR-1054671)

The current study deals with the self-assembly of phospholipids on flat supports using the Martini coarse grain model. We reported here the effect of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic nature of the solid supports on the lipid self-assembly. The hydrophilic and hydrophobic supports were modeled on the basis of water droplet simulations. The present work addresses the self-assembly mechanism of lipids on eight different supports with different strengths of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity. We demonstrated how interplay between the interactions of lipid and water with the support can guide the lipid self-assembly process. Thereafter, we calculated the energetics of the components of the system to quantify the competitions between water and a lipid head-group with hydrophilic supports. Finally, the properties of the self-assembled bilayers were also analyzed and reported here.

We have developed a novel system for photocontrol of the fusion of lipid vesicles through the use of a photosensitive surfactant containing an azobenzene moiety (AzoTAB). Real-time microscopic observations clarified a change in both the surface area and internal volume of vesicles during fusion. We also determined the optimal cholesterol concentrations and temperature for inducing fusion. The mechanism of fusion can be attributed to a change in membrane tension, which is caused by the solubilization of lipids through the isomerization of AzoTAB. We used a micropipet technique to estimate membrane tension and discuss the mechanism of fusion in terms of membrane elastic energy. The obtained results regarding this novel photoinduced fusion could lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of membrane fusion in living cells and may also see wider applications, such as in drug delivery and biomimetic material design.

Unspecific adhesion of bacteria is usually the first step in the formation of biofilms on abiotic surfaces, yet it is unclear up to now which forces are governing this process. Alongside long-ranged van der Waals and electrostatic forces, short-ranged hydrophobic interaction plays an important role. To characterize the forces involved during approach and retraction of an individual bacterium to and from a surface, single cell force spectroscopy is applied: A single cell of the apathogenic species Staphylococcus carnosus isolate TM300 is used as bacterial probe. With the exact same bacterium, hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces can be probed and compared. We find that as far as 50 nm from the surface, attractive forces can already be recorded, an indication of the involvement of long-ranged forces. Yet, comparing the surfaces of different surface energy, our results corroborate the model that large, bacterial cell wall proteins are responsible for adhesion, and that their interplay with the short-ranged hydrophobic interaction of the involved surfaces is mainly responsible for adhesion. The ostensibly long range of the attraction is a result of the large size of the cell wall proteins, searching for contact via hydrophobic interaction. The model also explains the strong (weak) adhesion of S. carnosus to hydrophobic (hydrophilic) surfaces.

Recent literature has shown that buffers affect the interaction between lipid bilayers through a mechanism that involves van der Waals forces, electrostatics, hydration forces and membrane bending rigidity. This letter shows an additional peculiar effect of buffers on the mixed chain 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) lipid bilayers, namely phase coexistence similar to what was reported by Rappolt et al. for alkali chlorides. The data presented suggest that one phase appears to dehydrate below the value in pure water, while the other phase swells as the concentration of buffer is increased. However, since the two phases must be in osmotic equilibrium with one another, this behavior challenges theoretical models of lipid interactions.

This review discusses main features of transmembrane (TM) proteins which distinguish them from water-soluble proteins and allow their adaptation to the anisotropic membrane environment. We overview the structural limitations on membrane protein architecture, spatial arrangement of proteins in membranes and their intrinsic hydrophobic thickness, co-translational and post-translational folding and insertion into lipid bilayers, topogenesis, high propensity to form oligomers, and large-scale conformational transitions during membrane insertion and transport function. Special attention is paid to the polarity of TM protein surfaces described by profiles of dipolarity/polarizability and hydrogen-bonding capacity parameters that match polarity of the lipid environment. Analysis of distributions of Trp resides on surfaces of TM proteins from different biological membranes indicates that interfacial membrane regions with preferential accumulation of Trp indole rings correspond to the outer part of the lipid acyl chain region—between double bonds and carbonyl groups of lipids. These “midpolar” regions are not always symmetric in proteins from natural membranes. We also examined the hydrophobic effect that drives insertion of proteins into lipid bilayer and different free energy contributions to TM protein stability, including attractive van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds, side-chain conformational entropy, the hydrophobic mismatch, membrane deformations, and specific protein–lipid binding.

Interaction force-distance profiles between substrate-supported membranes composed of equimolar ternary mixtures of unsaturated phosphotidylcholine (PC) lipid, saturated PC lipid, and cholesterol were determined using the surface force apparatus. Both double and single unsaturated PC lipids were studied. In all cases, the membranes were slightly negatively charged, resulting in a weak, long-range electrostatic repulsion. Corroborative atomic force microscopy, zeta potential, and fluorescence microscopy measurements were used to establish that a small level of charged lipid impurities (∼1/400 lipid molecules) were responsible for the repulsive electrostatic interaction between the membranes. At contact, the membranes were adhesive. The magnitude of the adhesion was greater than the van der Waals interaction between pure PC membranes without cholesterol. The enhanced adhesion was primarily attributed to hydrophobic attraction due to the presence of nanoscopic membrane defects which exposed the underlying membrane leaflet. The interaction force-distance profiles also demonstrated that the nanoscopic defects enabled membrane restructuring in the contact region.

Supported lipid bilayers (SLB) comprise a very important set of model systems of biomembranes. In particular, they can be prepared on metallic surfaces such as gold electrodes, which allow a number of electrochemical studies and applications that could not be undertaken with other types of model systems, such as liposome suspensions. Also of special relevance is lipid bilayer composition, especially those combinations of lipids which permit the formation of biologically relevant membrane domains such as lipid rafts. Indeed, membrane domain organization is a crucial feature concerning not only the biophysical properties of the bilayer itself, but also the behavior and bioactivity of membrane-interacting biomolecules. In spite of its relevance, the presence of bilayer domains has not been central in many investigations involving lipid bilayers supported on conductive surfaces. Moreover, air exposed gold surface is hydrophobic, which is not ideally suitable to establish a proper interaction with the lipids polar head group. To overcome such limitation different strategies may be adopted, encompassing the fine tuning of the buffer conditions and previous surface modification by hydrophilic self-assembled monolayer (SAM) or thiolipids. This review will be focused on the formation and characterization of SLB and lipid rafts on gold substrates, illustrating the range of applications of such platforms, with examples of the study of electroactive molecules and the development of new biosensing interfaces.

The composition of natural lipid membranes varies greatly depending on the type of organism, and it has been observed that small variations in lipid composition affect dramatically the membrane properties, such as structural stability and solute permeability. One of the variations is the methyl-branched lipids commonly found in archaea and bacteria. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we studied the influence of methyl branching on the electric-field induced formation of water channels in lipid bilayers and ion transports through them. We employed a double lipid bilayer setup to create within a periodic box two water compartments separated by those two bilayers. One of the compartments contains an excess of cations, while the other an equal excess of anions. This setup creates an initial transmembrane potential controlled by the ion concentration in each water compartment. We compared the response of diphytanoylphosphatidylcholine (DPhPC) lipid bilayers that have multiple methyl-branches with that of the straight-chain dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) lipids. We found that compared to the straight-chain DPPC lipids, branched DPhPC lipids require a higher critical transmembrane potential and a longer time for the membrane to break down, followed by water channel formation, and transport of anions and cations through the channel. We demonstrated that while adding methyl branches reduces the lateral diffusion of the lipids, different transport properties of branched lipids are mainly due to the bulkiness of the branched lipid tails resulting in different water channel morphologies. The transmembrane potential creates toroidal pores in the straight-chain lipid bilayers, but barrel stave pores in the branched-lipid bilayers the formation of which requires a higher transmembrane potential. Our results provided a deeper understanding of the ion transport process through lipid bilayer membranes and shed light on the transport of various molecules across the lipid membranes.

Insertion of short peptides into the cell membrane is energetically unfavorable and challenges the commonly accepted hydrophobic matching principle. Yet there has been evidence that many short peptides can penetrate into the cells to perform the biological functions in salt solution. On the basis of the previous study (J. Phys. Chem. C 2013, 117, 11095−11103), here we further performed a systematic study on the interaction of mastoparan with various neutral lipid bilayers with different lipid chain lengths in situ to examine the hydrophobic matching principle in different aqueous salt environments using sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy. It is found that the hydrophobic matching is the dominant driving force for the association of MP with a lipid bilayer in a pure water environment. However, in a kosmotropic ion environment, the hydration of ions can overcome the hydrophobic mismatching effects, leading to the insertion of MP into lipid bilayers with much longer hydrophobic lengths. When t...

Lipid self-organization is believed to be essential for shaping the lateral structure of membranes, but it is becoming increasingly clear that also membrane proteins can be involved in the maintenance of membrane architecture. Cholesterol is thought to be important for the lateral organization of eukaryotic cell membranes and has also been implicated to take part in the sorting of cellular transmembrane proteins. Hence, a good starting point for studying the influence of lipid–protein interactions on membrane trafficking is to find out how transmembrane proteins influence the lateral sorting of cholesterol in phospholipid bilayers. By measuring equilibrium partitioning of the fluorescent cholesterol analog cholestatrienol between large unilamellar vesicles and methyl-β-cyclodextrin the effect of hydrophobic matching on the affinity of sterols for phospholipid bilayers was determined. Sterol partitioning was measured in 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC), 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) bilayers with and without WALP19, WALP23 or WALP27 peptides. The results showed that the affinity of the sterol for the bilayers was affected by hydrophobic matching. An increasing positive hydrophobic mismatch led to stronger sterol binding to the bilayers (except in extreme situations), and a large negative hydrophobic mismatch decreased the affinity of the sterol for the bilayer. In addition, peptide insertion into the phospholipid bilayers was observed to depend on hydrophobic matching. In conclusion, the results showed that hydrophobic matching can affect lipid–protein interactions in a way that may facilitate the formation of lateral domains in cell membranes. This could be of importance in membrane trafficking.

Pore formation of lipid bilayers under mechanical stress is critical to biological processes. A series of coarse grained molecular dynamics simulations of lipid bilayers with carbon nanoparticles different in size have been performed. Surface tension was applied to study the disruption of lipid bilayers by nanoparticles and the formation of pores inside the bilayers. The presence of small nanoparticles enhances the probability of water penetration thus decreasing the membrane rupture tension, while big nanoparticles have the opposite effect. Nanoparticle volume affects bilayer strength indirectly, and particle surface density can complicate the interaction. The structural, dynamic, elastic properties and lateral densities of lipid bilayers with nanoparticles under mechanical stress were analyzed. The results demonstrate the ability of nanoparticles to adjust the structural and dynamic properties of a lipid membrane, and to efficiently regulate the pore formation behavior and hydrophobicity of membranes.

Lipid flip-flop and its associated transient pore formation are key thermodynamic properties of living cell membranes. However, there is a lack of understanding of whether ionic imbalance that exists ubiquitously across cell membranes affects lipid flip-flop and its associated functions. Potential of mean force calculations show that the free-energy barrier of lipid flip-flop on the extracellular leaflet reduces with the presence of ionic imbalance, whereas the barrier on the intracellular leaflet is generally not affected. The linear decrease of the activation energy of lipid flip-flop on the extracellular leaflet is consistent with the experimentally measured conductance-voltage relationship of zwitterionic lipid bilayers. This suggests: 1) lipid flip-flop has a directionality under physiological conditions and phospholipids accumulate at a rate on the order of 105 µm-2 h-1 on the cytoplasmic side of cell membranes; 2) ion permeation across a lipid membrane is moderated by lipid flip-flop; 3) the energy barrier of pore formation is aligned with the weaker leaflet that has a lower energy of lipid flip-flop. The asymmetry of lipid flip-flop and pore nucleation may have substantial implications for protein translocation, signaling, enzymatic activities, vesicle fusion, and transportation of biomolecules on cell membranes.

Pore-forming proteins and peptides act on their targeted lipid bilayer membranes to increase permeability. This approach to the modulation of biological function is relevant to a great number of living processes, including; infection, parasitism, immunity, apoptosis, development and neurodegeneration. While some pore-forming proteins/peptides assemble into rings of subunits to generate discrete, well-defined pore-forming structures, an increasing number is recognised to form pores via mechanisms which co-opt membrane lipids themselves. Among these, membrane attack complex-perforin/cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (MACPF/CDC) family proteins, Bax/colicin family proteins and actinoporins are especially prominent and among the mechanisms believed to apply are the formation of non-lamellar (semi-toroidal or toroidal) lipidic structures. In this review I focus on the ways in which lipids contribute to pore formation and contrast this with the ways in which lipids are co-opted also in membrane fusion and fission events. A variety of mechanisms for pore formation that involve lipids exists, but they consistently result in stable hybrid proteolipidic structures. These structures are stabilised by mechanisms in which pore-forming proteins modify the innate capacity of lipid membranes to respond to their environment, changing shape and/or phase and binding individual lipid molecules directly. In contrast, and despite the diversity in fusion protein types, mechanisms for membrane fusion are rather similar to each other, mapping out a pathway from pairs of separated compartments to fully confluent fused membranes. Fusion proteins generate metastable structures along the way which, like long-lived proteolipidic pore-forming complexes, rely on the basic physical properties of lipid bilayers. Membrane fission involves similar intermediates, in the reverse order. I conclude by considering the possibility that at least some pore-forming and fusion proteins are evolutionarily related homologues. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Pore-Forming Toxins edited by Mauro Dalla Serra and Franco Gambale.

Lipids and proteins are organized in cellular membranes in clusters, often called ‘lipid rafts'. Although raft-constituent ordered lipid domains are thought to be energetically unfavourable for membrane fusion, rafts have long been implicated in many biological fusion processes. For the case of HIV gp41-mediated membrane fusion, this apparent contradiction can be resolved by recognizing that the interfaces between ordered and disordered lipid domains are the predominant sites of fusion. Here we show that line tension at lipid domain boundaries contributes significant energy to drive gp41-fusion peptide-mediated fusion. This energy, which depends on the hydrophobic mismatch between ordered and disordered lipid domains, may contribute tens of kBT to fusion, that is, it is comparable to the energy required to form a lipid stalk intermediate. Line-active compounds such as vitamin E lower line tension in inhomogeneous membranes, thereby inhibit membrane fusion, and thus may be useful natural viral entry inhibitors., HIV preferentially fuses with lipid membranes at the interface between ordered and disordered domains, but the mechanistic basis for this observation is not known. Here Yang et al. show that line tension at the lipid boundary contributes considerable energy to drive gp41 fusion peptide-mediated fusion.

The complement system is an important part of the innate immune response, and there is great interest in understanding how complement proteins interact with lipid membrane interfaces, especially in the context of recognizing foreign particulates (e.g., liposomal nanomedicines). Herein, a supported lipid bilayer platform was employed in order to investigate the effect of membrane surface charge (positive, negative, or neutral) on the adsorption of three complement proteins. Quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation (QCM-D) experiments measured the real-time kinetics and total uptake of protein adsorption onto supported lipid bilayers. The results demonstrate that all three proteins exhibit preferential, mainly irreversible adsorption onto negatively charged lipid bilayers, yet there was also significant variation in total uptake and the relative degree of adsorption onto negatively charged bilayers versus neutral and positively charged bilayers. The total uptake was also observed to strongly depend on the bulk protein concentration. Taken together, our findings contribute to a broader understanding of the factors which influence adsorption of complement proteins onto lipid membranes and offer guidance towards the design of synthetic lipid bilayers with immunocompetent features.

To understand the effects of lipid composition on membrane protein function in a mixture as complex as a biomembrane, one must know whether the lipid composition local to the protein differs from the mean lipid composition. In this study, we simulated the transmembrane domain of a β-barrel protein, OmpA, in mixtures of lipids of different tail lengths under conditions of negative hydrophobic mismatch, i.e., local bilayer thinning. We modeled the influence of OmpA on the local lipid composition both at a coarse-grained (CG) resolution using conventional molecular dynamics, and at an atomistic resolution within the semi-grand canonical ensemble using mutation moves to rapidly approach an equilibrium lateral distribution of lipids. Moderate enrichment of the shorter tail component (either DDPC in DDPC/DMPC mixtures or DMPC in DMPC/DSPC mixtures) extending 2–3 nm away from the protein surface was observed with both the atomistic and CG models. The similarity in trends suggests that the more computationally economical CG models capture the essential features of lipid sorting induced by hydrophobic mismatch.

High-surface-area nanoparticles often cluster, with unknown effects on their cellular uptake and environmental impact. In the presence of vesicles or cell membranes, lipid adsorption can occur on the nanoparticles, resulting in the formation of supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), which tend to resist cellular uptake. When the amount of lipid available is in excess compared with that required to form a single-SLB, large aggregates of SLBs enclosed by a close-fitting lipid bilayer sheath are shown to form. The proposed mechanism for this process is one where small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) adsorb to aggregates of SLBs just above the gel-to-liquid phase transition temperature, T(m) , of the lipids (as observed by dynamic light scattering), and then fuse with each other (rather than to the underlying SLBs) upon cooling below T(m) . The sacks of SLB nanoparticles that are formed are encapsulated by the contiguous close-fitting lipid sheath, and precipitate below T(m) , due to reduced hydration repulsion and the absence of undulation/protrusion forces for the lipids attached to the solid support. The single-SLBs can be released above T(m) , where these forces are restored by the free lipid vesicles. This mechanism may be useful for encapsulation/release of drugs/DNA, and has implications for the toxic effects of nanoparticles, which may be mitigated by lipid sequestration.

We establish and quantify correlations among the molecular structures, interaction forces, and physical processes associated with light-responsive self-assembled surfactant monolayers or bilayers at interfaces. Using the surface forces apparatus (SFA), the interaction forces between adsorbed monolayers and bilayers of an azobenzene-functionalized surfactant can be drastically and controllably altered by light-induced conversion of trans and cis molecular conformations. These reversible conformation changes affect significantly the shape of the molecules, especially in the hydrophobic region, which induces dramatic transformations of molecular packing in self-assembled structures, causing corresponding modulation of electrostatic double layer, steric hydration, and hydrophobic interactions. For bilayers, the isomerization from trans to cis exposes more hydrophobic groups, making the cis bilayers more hydrophobic, which lowers the activation energy barrier for (hemi)fusion. A quantitative and general model is derived for the interaction potential of charged bilayers that includes the electrostatic double-layer force of the Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory, attractive hydrophobic interactions, and repulsive steric-hydration forces. The model quantitatively accounts for the elastic strains, deformations, long-range forces, energy maxima, adhesion minima, as well as the instability (when it exists) as two bilayers breakthrough and (hemi)fuse. These results have several important implications, including quantitative and qualitative understanding of the hydrophobic interaction, which is furthermore shown to be a nonadditive interaction.

Investigation of lateral heterogeneities (clusters) in cell membranes is an important step toward understanding the physical processes that lead to the formation of lipid domains and rafts. Computer modeling methods represent a powerful tool to solve the problem, since they can detect clusters containing only a few lipid molecules—the situation that still resists characterization with modern experimental techniques. Parameters of clustering depend on lipid composition of a membrane. In this work, we propose a computational method to detect and analyze parts of membrane with different packing densities. Series of one- and two-component fluid systems containing lipids with the same polar heads and different acyl chains, dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (18 : 1) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (16 : 0), were chosen as the objects under study. The developed algorithm is based on molecular dynamics simulation of hydrated lipid bilayers in all-atom mode. The method is universal and could be applied to any other membrane system with arbitrary lipid composition. Here, we demonstrated that the studied lipid bilayers reveal small lateral dynamic clusters composed of just several (most often, three) lipid molecules. This seems to be one of the most important reasons determining the “mosaic” nature of the membrane-water interface.

Due to thermal motion and molecular polarizability, electrical interactions in biological systems have a dynamic character. Zwitterions are dipolar molecules that typically are highly polarizable and exhibit both a positive and a negative charge depending on the pH of the solution. We use multilamellar structures of common lipids to identify and quantify the effects of zwitterionic buffers that go beyond the control of pH. We use the fact that the repeat spacing of multilamellar lipid bilayers is a sensitive and accurate indicator of the force balance between membranes. We show that common buffers can in fact charge up neutral membranes. However, this electrostatic effect is not immediately recognized because of the concomitant modification of dispersion (van der Waals) forces. We show that although surface charging can be weak, electrostatic forces are significant even at large distances because of reduced ionic screening and reduced van der Waals attraction. The zwitterionic interactions that we identify are expected to be relevant for interfacial biological processes involving lipid bilayers, and for a wide range of biomaterials, including amino acids, detergents, and pharmaceutical drugs. An appreciation of zwitterionic electrodynamic character can lead to a better understanding of molecular interactions in biological systems and in soft materials in general.

Membrane fusion is a key step in intracellular trafficking and viral infection. The underlying molecular mechanism is poorly understood. We have used molecular dynamics simulations in conjunction with a coarse grained model to study early metastable and transition states during the fusion of two planar palmitoyl-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) bilayers separated by five waters per lipid in the cis leaflets at zero tension. This system mimics the contact area between two vesicles with large diameters compared to the membrane thickness at conditions where fusion may start in the core of the contact area. At elevated temperatures, the two proximal leaflets become connected via multiple lipid molecules and form a stalklike structure. At room temperature, this structure has a free energy of 3k(B)T and is separated from the unconnected state by a significant free energy barrier of 20k(B)T. Stalk formation is initiated by the establishment of a localized hydrophobic contact between the bilayers. This contact is either formed by two partially splayed lipids or a single fully splayed one leading to the formation of a (metastable) splayed lipid bond intermediate. These findings indicate that, for low hydration, early membrane fusion kinetics is not determined by the stalk energy but by the energy of prestalk transition states involving solvent-exposed lipid tails.

Lipid membranes, particularly under nonequilibrium conditions, have recently been investigated ever more vigorously because of their relevance in the biological context. We survey our recent approaches to the theoretical study of lipid bilayers that are perturbed in different ways. Self-organization phenomena involving curvature and/or composition spatiotemporal organization are investigated in membrane systems subjected to externally induced chemical reactions, transversal mass transport and insertion of proteins. The outcomes of these studies are expected to be applicable to different curvature and lateral organization phenomena in synthetic lipid bilayers and also in plasmatic cell membranes.

Cyanuric acid (CA) and melamine (M) functionalized lipids can form membranes that exhibit robust hydrogen-bond driven surface recognition in water, facilitated by multivalent surface clustering of recognition groups and variable hydration at the lipid-water interface. Here we describe a minimal lipid recognition cluster: three CA or M recognition groups are forced into proximity by covalent attachment to a single lipid headgroup. This trivalent lipid system guides recognition at the lipid-water interface using cyanurate-melamine hydrogen bonding when incorporated at 0.1-5 mol percent in fluid phospholipid membranes, inducing both vesicle-vesicle binding and membrane fusion. Fusion was accelerated when the antimicrobial peptide magainin was used to anchor trivalent recognition, or when added exogenously to a preassembled lipid vesicle complex, underscoring the importance of coupling recognition with membrane disruption in membrane fusion. Membrane apposition and fusion were studied in vesicle suspensions using light scattering, FRET assays for lipid mixing, surface plasmon resonance, and cryo-electron microscopy. Recognition was found to be highly spatially selective as judged by vesicular adhesion to surface patterned supported lipid bilayers (SLBs). Fusion to SLBs was also readily observed by fluorescence microscopy. Together, these studies indicate effective and functional recognition of trivalent phospholipids, despite low mole percentage concentration, solvent competition for hydrogen bond donor/acceptor sites, and simplicity of structure. This novel designed molecular recognition motif may be useful for directing aqueous-phase assembly and biomolecular interactions.

The host lipid bilayer is increasingly being recognized as an important non-specific regulator of membrane protein function. Despite considerable progress the interplay between hydrophobic coupling and lipid ordering is still elusive. We use electron spin resonance (ESR) to study the interaction between the model protein gramicidin and lipid bilayers of varying thickness. The free energy of the interaction is up to -6kJ/mol; thus not strongly favored over lipid-lipid interactions. Incorporation of gramicidin results in increased order parameters with increased protein concentration and hydrophobic mismatch. Our findings also show that at high protein:lipid ratios the lipids are motionally restricted but not completely immobilized. Both exchange on and off rate values for the lipid--gramicidin interaction are lowest at optimal hydrophobic matching. Hydrophobic mismatch of few A results in up to 10-fold increased exchange rates as compared to the 'optimal' match situation pointing to the regulatory role of hydrophobic coupling in lipid-protein interactions.

A set of 49 protein nanopore-lipid bilayer systems was explored by means of coarse-grained molecular-dynamics simulations to study the interactions between nanopores and the lipid bilayers in which they are embedded. The seven nanopore species investigated represent the two main structural classes of membrane proteins (alpha-helical and beta-barrel), and the seven different bilayer systems range in thickness from approximately 28 to approximately 43 A. The study focuses on the local effects of hydrophobic mismatch between the nanopore and the lipid bilayer. The effects of nanopore insertion on lipid bilayer thickness, the dependence between hydrophobic thickness and the observed nanopore tilt angle, and the local distribution of lipid types around a nanopore in mixed-lipid bilayers are all analyzed. Different behavior for nanopores of similar hydrophobic length but different geometry is observed. The local lipid bilayer perturbation caused by the inserted nanopores suggests possible mechanisms for both lipid bilayer-induced protein sorting and protein-induced lipid sorting. A correlation between smaller lipid bilayer thickness (larger hydrophobic mismatch) and larger nanopore tilt angle is observed and, in the case of larger hydrophobic mismatches, the simulated tilt angle distribution seems to broaden. Furthermore, both nanopore size and key residue types (e.g., tryptophan) seem to influence the level of protein tilt, emphasizing the reciprocal nature of nanopore-lipid bilayer interactions.

The Singer-Nicholson model of membranes postulated a uniform lipid bilayer randomly studded with floating proteins. However, it became clear almost immediately that membranes were not uniform and that clusters of lipids in a more ordered state existed within the generally disorder lipid milieu of the membrane. These clusters of ordered lipids are now referred to as lipid rafts. This review summarizes current thinking on the nature of lipid rafts focusing on the role of proteomics and lipidomics in understanding the structure of these domains. It also outlines the contribution of single-molecule methods in defining the forces that drive the formation and dynamics of these membrane domains.

We investigate the interactions between lipid bilayers and amphiphilic peptides using a solvent-free coarse-grained simulation technique. In our model, each lipid is represented by one hydrophilic and three hydrophobic beads. The amphiphilic peptide is modeled as a hydrophobic-hydrophilic cylinder with hydrophilic caps. We find that with increasing peptide-lipid attraction the preferred state of the peptide changes from desorbed, to adsorbed, to inserted. A single peptide with weak attraction binds on the bilayer surface, while one with strong attraction spontaneously inserts into the bilayer. We show how several peptides, which individually bind only to the bilayer surface, cooperatively insert. Furthermore, hydrophilic strips along the peptide cylinder induce the formation of multipeptide pores, whose size and morphology depend on the peptides’ overall hydrophilicity, the distribution of hydrophilic residues, and the peptide-peptide interactions. Strongly hydrophilic peptides insert less readily, but prove to be more destructive to bilayer integrity.

For membrane fusion to occur, opposed lipid bilayers initially establish a fusion pore, often followed by complete mixing of the fusing membranes. Contemporary views suggest that during fusion lipid bilayers are continuous passive platforms that are disrupted and remodeled by catalytic proteins. Some models propose that even the architecture and composition of the fusion pore might be dominated by proteins rather than lipids. Hence, lipids have no regulatory contribution to this process; they simply adapt their shape passively for filling space between otherwise autonomous protein machineries. However, an increasing number of experimental findings indicate that membrane fusion critically depends on a variety of lipids and lipid derivatives. Therefore, a purely proteocentric view describes fusion mechanisms insufficiently. Instead, lipids have functions probably at different levels, as (i) a general influence on the propensity of lipid bilayers to fuse, (ii) a role in recruiting exocytotic proteins to the plasma membrane, (iii) a role in organizing membrane domains for fusion and (iv) direct regulatory effects on fusion protein complexes. In this review we have made an attempt to bring together the large body of evidence supporting a major role for lipids in membrane fusion either directly or indirectly.

The Surface Force Apparatus (SFA) measures directly, and with nanoscale resolution, the interaction energy vs. distance profile of planar arrays of biological molecules (e.g., lipids, polymers, or proteins). Through recent advances in the reconstitution and deposition of lipid bilayers, it is now possible to use SFA to study the interactions between membrane-incorporated biomolecules and to reveal any conformational changes and intermediate assembly states. Therein we describe two example systems. First, we show that using bilayers functionalized to carry DNA bases on their lipid headgroups, we can measure a macroscopic nucleoside–nucleoside adhesion force, from which one can obtain a molecular binding energy. Second, we describe the use of the SFA to study the interaction between SNARE proteins, which are involved in most of intracellular fusion events. Membrane fusion occurs when SNARE proteins assemble between lipid bilayers in the form of SNAREpins. SFA measurements between SNAREs embedded in lipid bilayers allowed us to elucidate the energetics and dynamics of SNAREpin folding, and to capture an intermediate binding state in SNAREpin assembly.

Recent experimental results revealed that lipid-mediated interactions due to hydrophobic forces may be important in determining the protein topology after insertion in the membrane, in regulating the protein activity, in protein aggregation and in signal transduction. To gain insight into the lipid-mediated interactions between two intrinsic membrane proteins, we developed a mesoscopic model of a lipid bilayer with embedded proteins, which we studied with dissipative particle dynamics. Our calculations of the potential of mean force between transmembrane proteins show that hydrophobic forces drive long-range protein-protein interactions and that the nature of these interactions depends on the length of the protein hydrophobic segment, on the three-dimensional structure of the protein and on the properties of the lipid bilayer. To understand the nature of the computed potentials of mean force, the concept of hydrophilic shielding is introduced. The observed protein interactions are interpreted as resulting from the dynamic reorganization of the system to maintain an optimal hydrophilic shielding of the protein and lipid hydrophobic parts, within the constraint of the flexibility of the components. Our results could lead to a better understanding of several membrane processes in which protein interactions are involved.

Diverse membrane fusion reactions in biology involve close contact between two lipid bilayers, followed by the local distortion of the individual bilayers and reformation into a single, merged membrane. We consider the structures and energies of the fusion intermediates identified in experimental and theoretical work on protein-free lipid bilayers. On the basis of this analysis, we then discuss the conserved fusion-through-hemifusion pathway of merger between biological membranes and propose that the entire progression, from the close juxtaposition of membrane bilayers to the expansion of a fusion pore, is controlled by protein-generated membrane stresses.

The recent perspectives on membrane protein insertion, protein–bilayer interactions, and amino acid side hydrophobicity (J. Gen. Physiol. 129:351–377) have provided a great opportunity to explore an important problem that has challenged our basic understanding of protein–lipid interactions and membrane protein function. Biological membranes consist primarily of lipid bilayers that exhibit hydrophobic cores which present significant barriers to all polar and charged species. This essential character of membranes was brought into question after the proposal of the “paddle” model of voltage-gated ion channel gating (Jiang et al., 2003) in which voltage-sensing domains, containing multiple charged arginine (Arg) side chains, were supposed to move across the core of a lipid membrane, despite theoretical energy cost predictions of 100s of kcal/mol (Grabe et al., 2004). This discrepancy underscores the importance of critically evaluating all models in terms of the fundamental thermodynamics of charged side chain–membrane interactions.

The creation of three-dimensional structures in supported lipid bilayers has been examined. In bilayers, shape transformations can be triggered by adjusting a variety of parameters. Here, it is shown that bilayers composed of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidic acid can be induced to reversibly form cap structures when exposed to an asymmetry in ionic strength. The structures that form depend on the asymmetry in the ionic strength and the amount of anionic lipid. Other factors that may be of importance in the creation of the structures, expansion forces, osmotic forces, and the bilayer-support interaction are discussed. The cap structures have the potential to be of considerable utility in examining the effect that curvature has on membrane processes.

Membrane fusion is the core process in membrane trafficking and is essential for cellular transport of proteins and other biomacromolecules. During protein-mediated membrane fusion, membrane proteins are often excluded from the membrane–membrane contact, indicating that local structural transformations in lipid domains play a major role. However, the rearrangements of lipid domains during fusion have not been thoroughly examined. Here using a newly developed Fluorescence Surface Forces Apparatus (FL-SFA), migration of liquid-disordered clusters and depletion of liquid-ordered domains at the membrane–membrane contact are imaged in real time during hemifusion of model lipid membranes, together with simultaneous force–distance and lipid membrane thickness measurements. The load and contact time-dependent hemifusion results show that the domain rearrangements decrease the energy barrier to fusion, illustrating the significance of dynamic domain transformations in membrane fusion processes. Importantly, the FL-SFA can unambiguously correlate interaction forces and in situ imaging in many dynamic interfacial systems., During membrane fusion, lipid bilayers come into direct contact but rearrangements of lipid domains during fusion have not been thoroughly examined. Here the authors observe and correlate membrane morphology, interaction forces and domain rearrangements during hemifusion of two model membranes.

All biological membranes consist of a complex composite of macromolecules and macromolecular assemblies, of which the fluid lipid-bilayer component is a core element with regard to cell encapsulation and barrier properties. The fluid lipid bilayer also supports the functional machinery of receptors, channels and pumps that are associated with the membrane. This bilayer is stabilized by weak physical and colloidal forces, and its nature is that of a self-assembled system of amphiphiles in water. Being only approximately 5 nm in thickness and still encapsulating a cell that is three orders of magnitude larger in diameter, the lipid bilayer as a material has very unusual physical properties, both in terms of structure and dynamics. Although the lipid bilayer is a fluid, it has a distinct and structured trans-bilayer profile, and in the plane of the bilayer the various molecular components, viz different lipid species and membrane proteins, have the capacity to organize laterally in terms of differentiated domains on different length and time scales. These elements of small-scale structure and order are crucial for the functioning of the membrane. It has turned out to be difficult to quantitatively study the small-scale structure of biological membranes. A major part of the insight into membrane micro- and nano-domains and the concepts used to describe them have hence come from studies of simple lipid bilayers as models of membranes, by use of a wide range of theoretical, experimental and simulational approaches. Many questions remain to be answered as to which extent the result from model studies can carry over to real biological membranes.

Supported lipid bilayers have been in use for over 30 years. They have been employed to study the structure, composition, and dynamics of lipid bilayer phases, the binding and distribution of soluble, integral, and lipidated proteins in membranes, membrane fusion, and interactions of membranes with elements of the cytoskeleton. This review focuses on the unique ability of supported lipid bilayers to study liquid-ordered and liquid-disordered domains in membranes. We highlight methods to produce asymmetric lipid bilayers with lipid compositions that mimic those of the extracellular and cytoplasmic leaflets of cell membranes and the functional reconstitution of membrane proteins into such systems. Questions related to interleaflet domain coupling and membrane protein activation have been addressed and answered using advanced reconstitution and imaging procedures in symmetric and asymmetric supported membranes with and without coexisting lipid phase domains. Previously controversial topics regarding anomalous and anisotropic diffusion in membranes have been resolved by using supported membrane approaches showing that the propensity of certain lipid compositions to form “rafts” are important but overlaid with “picket-fence” interactions that are imposed by a subtended cytoskeletal network.

Membrane proteins perform relevant physiological functions by means of intricate conformational changes in a hydrophobic environment. Lipid bilayers and embedded proteins, therefore, play a functional role in biomembranes, where the interplay of interactions keeps a delicate balance between cell barriers and selective transducers, transporters, pores, channels, etc. Molecular dynamics and experimental methods (e.g. X-ray diffraction, neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, dielectric relaxation spectroscopy, among others) encompass a set of tools to determine the relevant properties that make biomembranes so efficient for preserving life. In this chapter, I provide a perspective on studies that combine experimental methods and molecular dynamics approaches to decipher couplings of membrane proteins and lipid bilayers.

Water is crucial to the structure and function of biological membranes. In fact, the membrane's basic structural unit, i.e. the lipid bilayer, is self-assembled and stabilized by the so-called hydrophobic effect, whereby lipid molecules unable to hydrogen bond with water aggregate in order to prevent their hydrophobic portions from being exposed to water. However, this is just the beginning of the lipid-bilayer-water relationship. This mutual interaction defines vesicle stability in solution, controls small molecule permeation, and defines the spacing between lamella in multi-lamellar systems, to name a few examples. This chapter will describe the structural and dynamical properties central to these, and other water- lipid bilayer interactions.

Fusion of viral and cell membranes is a key event in the process by which the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) enters the target cell. Membrane fusion is facilitated by the interaction of the viral gp41 fusion peptide with the cell membrane. Using synthetic peptides and model membrane systems, it has been established that the sequence of events implies the binding of the peptide to the membrane, followed by a conformational change (transformation of unordered and helical structures into beta-aggregates) which precedes lipid mixing. It is known that this process can be influenced by the membrane lipid composition. In the present work we have undertaken a systematic study in order to determine the influence of cholesterol (abundant in the viral membrane) in the sequence of events leading to lipid mixing. Besides its effect on membrane fluidity, cholesterol can affect a less known physical parameter, the membrane dipole potential. Using the dipole potential fluorescent sensor di-8-ANEPPS together with other biophysical techniques, we show that cholesterol increases the affinity of the fusion peptide for the model membranes, and although it lowers the extent of lipid mixing, it increases the mixing rate. The influence of cholesterol on the peptide affinity and the lipid mixing rate are shown to be mainly due to its influence of the membrane dipole potential, whereas the lipid mixing extent and peptide conformational changes seem to be more dependent on other membrane parameters such as membrane fluidity and hydration.