Conical inclusions in a lipid bilayer generate an overall spontaneous curvature of the membrane that depends on concentration and geometry of the inclusions. Examples are integral and attached membrane proteins, viruses, and lipid domains. We propose an analytical model to study budding and vesiculation of the lipid bilayer membrane, which is based on the membrane bending energy and the transla...

Insulin interaction with BLM with incorporated fragments of rat liver plasma membranes, containing hormone receptors, was studied by determining Young modulus of elasticity of bilayer lipid membranes in direction perpendicular to the surface, E. The presence of membrane proteins in a concentration of 60 micrograms.ml-1 induced a significant decrease in parameter E (to approx. 50%) as compared w...

We investigate with computer simulations the critical radius of pores in a lipid bilayer membrane. Ilton et al. [5] recently showed that nucleated pores in a homopolymer film can increase or decrease in size, depending on whether they are larger or smaller than a critical size which scales linearly with film thickness. Using dissipative particle dynamics, a particle-based simulation method, we ...

Calmodulin (CaM) interactions with bilayer lipid membranes (BLM) were studied by measuring modulus of elasticity in direction perpendicular to the membrane plane (E perpendicular) and intramembrane potential delta psi. Upon interaction of CaM with egg phosphatidylcholine and asolectin BLM the parameter E perpendicular grew slightly (not more than by 10% as compared to the respective vale for no...

Planar lipid bilayers represent a versatile platform for studying the functions of various membrane proteins as well as the development of biosensors. Despite the continuing technological progress in the fabrication of low-noise bilayer setups with mechanically and electrically stable planar bilayers, there is still a lack of software utilities for assistance during bilayer formation. We presen...

This paper proposes a solution exchange of a droplet-based lipid bilayer system, in which the inner solution of a droplet is replaced for the purpose of efficient ion channel analyses. In our previous report, we successfully recorded the channel conductance of alpha-hemolysin in a bilayer lipid membrane using a droplet contact method that can create a spontaneous lipid bilayer at the interface ...

Dendrimers are highly branched polymeric nanoparticles whose structure and topology, largely, have determined their efficacy in a wide range of studies performed so far. An area of immense interest is their potential as drug and gene delivery vectors. Realizing this potential, depending on the nature of cell surface-dendrimer interactions, here we report controlled model membrane penetration an...

Planar lipid bilayers formed from monolayers of diphytanoyl lecithin (DPhL) were found to interact with plasmid DNA (5.6 kbp; M(r) = 3.7 x 10(6)) leading to an increase in the conductance of the membrane. The association of DNA with a lipid bilayer greatly facilitates the transport of the small ions of the main salt KCl. The appearance of long-lived current levels, for instance, of 27.6 pA at V...

Membrane proteins (MPs) are essential for cellular functions. Understanding the functions of MPs is crucial as they constitute an important class drug targets. However, a challenging biomolecules to analyze because cannot be studied outside their native environment. Their structure, function and activity highly dependent on local lipid environment, these properties compromised when protein does...

Many pathogenic bacteria produce pore-forming toxins to attack and kill human cells. We have determined the 4.5 Å structure of the ~2.2 MDa pore complex of pneumolysin, the main virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae, by cryoEM. The pneumolysin pore is a 400 Å ring of 42 membrane-inserted monomers. Domain 3 of the soluble toxin refolds into two ~85 Å β-hairpins that traverse the lipid bil...