Biology Department, University of RomaTre, Viale G. Marconi 446, I-00146 Rome, Italy.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2010 May 15;345(2):561-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2010.01.059. Epub 2010 Jan 28.
The fusion between synthetic vesicles is an interesting mechanism for the stepwise construction of vesicle compartments for origins of life models and synthetic biology. In this communication, we report an innovative study on the not well-known case of fusion between oppositely charged vesicles, in particular by using fatty acid vesicles and DDAB as cationic surfactant. By combining fluorescence, turbidity vs. time profiles and vesicle size distribution obtained by dynamic light scattering, we show that POPC/oleate 1/4 mol/mol anionic vesicles can be fused with POPC/DDAB 1/1 mol/mol cationic vesicles with about 20% yield. Other non-fusion processes also occur, vesicle fusion being more effective by reducing the ionic strength of the buffer. This study also contributes to clarify the term "vesicle fusion", which is not always properly used in describing reactivity among vesicles.
脂质体的融合是一种有趣的机制，可以逐步构建用于生命起源模型和合成生物学的脂质体隔室。在本通讯中，我们报告了一个关于带相反电荷的脂质体融合的鲜为人知的案例的创新性研究，特别是使用脂肪酸脂质体和 DDAB 作为阳离子表面活性剂。通过结合荧光、浊度随时间的变化曲线和动态光散射得到的脂质体粒径分布，我们表明 POPC/油酸 1/4 mol/mol 阴离子脂质体可以与 POPC/DDAB 1/1 mol/mol 阳离子脂质体融合，产率约为 20%。还发生了其他非融合过程，通过降低缓冲液的离子强度，脂质体融合更有效。这项研究还有助于澄清“脂质体融合”这一术语，因为在描述脂质体之间的反应时，它并不总是被正确使用。
