Creating Supported Plasma Membrane Bilayers Using Acoustic Pressure

Creating fluid and air-stable solid supported lipid bilayers.

Solid supported lipid bilayers are rapidly delaminated when drawn through the air/water interface. We have discovered that a close packed monolayer of specifically bound protein prevents this process. The protection mechanism worked in two ways. First, when protein-protected bilayers were drawn through the air/water interface, a thin bulk water layer was visible over the entire bilayer region, ...

Formation of tethered supported bilayers via membrane-inserting reactive lipids

Fluid phospholipid bilayers partially bound to a supporting polymer cushion (tethered supported membranes) have been widely discussed as model systems for studying biomembrane structure and function. We have synthesized a new isothiocyanate-functionalized lipid from dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine, which closely resembles naturally occurring membrane lipids. Monolayers containing the reacti...

Structural Studies of Supported Bilayers as Cell Membrane Model Systems

Polydopamine-Supported Lipid Bilayers

We report the formation of lipid membranes supported by a soft polymeric cushion of polydopamine. First, 20 nm thick polydopamine films were formed on mica substrates. Atomic force microscopy imaging indicated that these films were also soft with a surface roughness of 2 nm under hydrated conditions. A zwitterionic phospholipid bilayer was then deposited on the polydopamine cushion by fusion of...

Using supported bilayers to study the spatiotemporal organization of membrane-bound proteins.

Cell division in prokaryotes and eukaryotes is commonly initiated by the well-controlled binding of proteins to the cytoplasmic side of the cell membrane. However, a precise characterization of the spatiotemporal dynamics of membrane-bound proteins is often difficult to achieve in vivo. Here, we present protocols for the use of supported lipid bilayers to rebuild the cytokinetic machineries of ...