Tormena Nicolo, Pilizota Teuta, Voïtchovsky Kislon
Physics Department, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, U.K.
School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Engineering Biology, The University of Edinburgh, Alexander Crum Brown Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, U.K.
Langmuir. 2025 May 20;41(19):12301-12310. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c01138. Epub 2025 May 7.
Biological membranes are essential for the development and survival of organisms. They can be highly complex, usually comprising a variety of lipids, proteins, and other biomolecules organized around a lipid bilayer structure. This complexity makes studying specific features of biological membranes difficult, with many research studies relying on simplified models, such as artificial vesicles or supported lipid bilayers. Here, we search for a minimal, lipid-only model system of the inner membrane. We aim to retain the main lipidomic components in their native ratio while mimicking the membrane's thermal and mechanical properties. Based on previous studies, we identify 18 potential model systems reflecting key aspects of the known lipidomic composition and progressively narrow down our selection based on the systems' phase transition temperature and mechanical properties. We identify three ternary model systems able to form stable bilayers that can be made of the commercially available synthetic lipids 16:0-18:1 phosphatidylethanolamine (POPE), 16:0-18:1 phosphatidylglycerol (POPG), and 16:0-18:1 cardiolipin (CL). We anticipate our results to be of interest for future studies making use of models, for example, investigating membrane proteins' function or macromolecule-membrane interactions.
生物膜对于生物体的发育和生存至关重要。它们可能高度复杂,通常由围绕脂质双层结构组织的多种脂质、蛋白质和其他生物分子组成。这种复杂性使得研究生物膜的特定特征变得困难,许多研究依赖于简化模型,如人工囊泡或支撑脂质双层。在这里,我们寻找内膜的一种仅含脂质的最小模型系统。我们的目标是在模拟膜的热学和力学性质的同时,保持主要脂质成分的天然比例。基于先前的研究,我们确定了18种潜在的模型系统,这些系统反映了已知脂质组成的关键方面,并根据系统的相变温度和力学性质逐步缩小我们的选择范围。我们确定了三种能够形成稳定双层的三元模型系统,它们可以由市售的合成脂质16:0 - 18:1磷脂酰乙醇胺(POPE)、16:0 - 18:1磷脂酰甘油(POPG)和16:0 - 18:1心磷脂(CL)制成。我们预计我们的结果将对未来利用这些模型的研究感兴趣,例如,研究膜蛋白的功能或大分子与膜的相互作用。