Real-time intermembrane force measurements and imaging of lipid domain morphology during hemifusion

Dong Woog Lee (), Kai Kristiansen, Stephen H. Donaldson, Jr., Nicholas Cadirov, Xavier Banquy and Jacob N. Israelachvili ()
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Dong Woog Lee: University of California
Kai Kristiansen: University of California
Stephen H. Donaldson, Jr.: University of California
Nicholas Cadirov: University of California
Xavier Banquy: Canada Research Chair in Bio-inspired Materials and Interfaces, Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal
Jacob N. Israelachvili: University of California

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8238

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8238

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