Reconstitution of functional electron transfer between membrane biological elements in a two-dimensional lipidic structure at the electrode interface.

These studies develop a methodology to form supported phospholipid bilayers at an electrode/solution interface that models biological membrane systems. Two kinds of electrode were used, a planar gold electrode and a microporous aluminium oxide electrode on which octadecanethiol or octadecyltrichlorosilane was self-assembled. The supported lipidic structures were produced by transfer of a phospholipid monolayer by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique or by direct fusion of phospholipid vesicles. Ubiquinone was introduced into the lipidic structures during their formation; electrochemical measurements demonstrated the mobility of ubiquinone along the plane of the bilayer. A membrane enzyme, pyruvate oxidase from E. coli, was successfully incorporated into this artificial bilayer and was found to be able to exchange electrons with ubiquinone present in the bilayer.