scholarly journals Kinetics of self-assembly of inclusions due to lipid membrane thickness interactions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyu Liao ◽  
Prashant K. Purohit

AbstractSelf-assembly of proteins on lipid membranes underlies many important processes in cell biology, such as, exo- and endo-cytosis, assembly of viruses, etc. An attractive force that can cause self-assembly is mediated by membrane thickness interactions between proteins. The free energy profile associated with this attractive force is a result of the overlap of thickness deformation fields around the proteins. The thickness deformation field around proteins of various shapes can be calculated from the solution of a boundary value problem and is relatively well understood. Yet, the time scales over which self-assembly occurs has not been explored. In this paper we compute this time scale as a function of the initial distance between two inclusions by viewing their coalescence as a first passage time problem. The first passage time is computed using both Langevin dynamics and a partial differential equation, and both methods are found to be in excellent agreement. Inclusions of three different shapes are studied and it is found that for two inclusions separated by about hundred nanometers the time to coalescence is hundreds of milliseconds irrespective of shape. Our Langevin dynamics simulation of self-assembly required an efficient computation of the interaction energy of inclusions which was accomplished using a finite difference technique. The interaction energy profiles obtained using this numerical technique were in excellent agreement with those from a previously proposed semi-analytical method based on Fourier-Bessel series. The computational strategies described in this paper could potentially lead to efficient methods to explore the kinetics of self-assembly of proteins on lipid membranes.Author summarySelf-assembly of proteins on lipid membranes occurs during exo- and endo-cytosis and also when viruses exit an infected cell. The forces mediating self-assembly of inclusions on membranes have therefore been of long standing interest. However, the kinetics of self-assembly has received much less attention. As a first step in discerning the kinetics, we examine the time to coalescence of two inclusions on a membrane as a function of the distance separating them. We use both Langevin dynamics simulations and a partial differential equation to compute this time scale. We predict that the time to coalescence is on the scale of hundreds of milliseconds for two inclusions separated by about hundred nanometers. The deformation moduli of the lipid membrane and the membrane tension can affect this time scale.

Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyu Liao ◽  
Prashant K. Purohit

Self-assembly of proteins on lipid membranes underlies many important processes in cell biology, such as, exo- and endo-cytosis, assembly of viruses, etc.


Membranes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Damian Dziubak ◽  
Kamil Strzelak ◽  
Slawomir Sek

Supported lipid membranes are widely used platforms which serve as simplified models of cell membranes. Among numerous methods used for preparation of planar lipid films, self-assembly of bicelles appears to be promising strategy. Therefore, in this paper we have examined the mechanism of formation and the electrochemical properties of lipid films deposited onto thioglucose-modified gold electrodes from bicellar mixtures. It was found that adsorption of the bicelles occurs by replacement of interfacial water and it leads to formation of a double bilayer structure on the electrode surface. The resulting lipid assembly contains numerous defects and pinholes which affect the permeability of the membrane for ions and water. Significant improvement in morphology and electrochemical characteristics is achieved upon freeze–thaw treatment of the deposited membrane. The lipid assembly is rearranged to single bilayer configuration with locally occurring patches of the second bilayer, and the number of pinholes is substantially decreased. Electrochemical characterization of the lipid membrane after freeze–thaw treatment demonstrated that its permeability for ions and water is significantly reduced, which was manifested by the relatively high value of the membrane resistance.


Author(s):  
M. Austin Creasy ◽  
Donald J. Leo

Biological systems demonstrate autonomous healing of damage and are an inspiration for developing self-healing materials. Our recent experimental study has demonstrated that a bilayer lipid membrane (BLM), also called a black lipid membrane, has the ability to self-heal after mechanical failure. These molecules have a unique property that they spontaneously self assembly into organized structures in an aqueous medium. The BLM forms an impervious barrier to ions and fluid between two volumes and strength of the barrier is dependent on the pressure and electrical field applied to the membrane. A BLM formed over an aperture on a silicon substrate is shown to self-heal for 5 pressurization failure cycles.


RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (81) ◽  
pp. 65684-65689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Xu ◽  
Meimei Bao ◽  
Longfei Rui ◽  
Jiaojiao Liu ◽  
Jingliang Li ◽  
...  

A self-assembled lipid membrane provides a smooth, hydrophilic and biocompatible surface coating film for materials.


Author(s):  
Tom Dixon ◽  
Arzu Uyar ◽  
Shelagh Ferguson-Miller ◽  
Alex Dickson

ABSTRACTThe translocator protein (TSPO), previously known as the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor, is of longstanding medical interest as both a biomarker for neuroinjury and a potential drug target for neuroinflammation and other disorders. Recently it was shown that ligand residence time is a key factor determining steroidogenic efficacy of TSPO-binding compounds. This spurs interest in simulations of (un)binding pathways of TSPO ligands, which could reveal the molecular interactions governing ligand residence time. In this study, we use a weighted ensemble algorithm to determine the unbinding pathway for different poses of PK-11195, a TSPO ligand used in neuroimaging. In contrast with previous studies, our results show that PK-11195 does not dissociate directly into the solvent but instead dissociates via the lipid membrane by going between the transmembrane helices. We analyze this path ensemble in detail, constructing descriptors that can facilitate a general understanding of membrane-mediated ligand binding. We construct a Markov state model using additional straightforward simulations to determine pose stability and kinetics of ligand unbinding. Together we combine over 40 µs of trajectory data to form a coherent picture of the ligand binding landscape. We find that all poses are able to interconvert before unbinding, leading to single mean first passage time estimate for all starting poses which roughly agrees with the experimental quantity. The ligand binding transition state predicted by our combined model occurs when PK-11195 is already in the membrane and does not involve direct ligand-protein interactions. This has implications for the design of new long residence-time TSPO ligands.SIGNIFICANCEKinetics-oriented drug design is an emerging objective in drug discovery. However, while ligand binding affinity (or the binding free energy) is purely a function of the bound and unbound states, the binding kinetics depends on the nature of the paths by which the (un)binding occurs. This underscores the importance of approaches that can reveal information about the ensemble of (un)binding paths. Here we used advanced molecular dynamics approaches to study the unbinding of PK-11195 from TSPO and find it dissociates from the protein by dissolving into the membrane, and that the transition state occurs after the PK-11195 molecule has already separated from TSPO. These results motivate the design of future long-residence time TSPO ligands that destabilize the membrane-solvated transition state.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Bo Broadwater ◽  
Alexander W. Cook ◽  
Harold D. Kim

AbstractDNA strand displacement, where a single-stranded nucleic acid invades a DNA duplex, is pervasive in genomic processes and DNA engineering applications. The kinetics of strand displacement have been studied in bulk; however, the kinetics of the underlying strand exchange were obfuscated by a slow bimolecular association step. Here, we use a novel single-molecule Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (smFRET) approach termed the “fission” assay to obtain the full distribution of first passage times of unimolecular strand displacement. At a frame time of 4.4 ms, the first passage time distribution for a 14-nt displacement domain exhibited a nearly monotonic decay with little delay. Among the eight different sequences we tested, the mean displacement time was on average 35 ms and varied by up to a factor of 13. The measured displacement kinetics also varied between complementary invaders and between RNA and DNA invaders of the same base sequence except for T→U substitution. However, displacement times were largely insensitive to the monovalent salt concentration in the range of 0.25 M to 1 M. Using a one-dimensional random walk model, we infer that the single-step displacement time is in the range of ∼30 µs to ∼300 µs depending on the base identity. The framework presented here is broadly applicable to the kinetic analysis of multistep processes investigated at the single-molecule level.


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