Morphological changes of liposomes caused by interactions between liposomal membranes and talin, a cytoskeletal submembranous protein, were studied by direct, real-time observation by using high-intensity dark-field microscopy. Surprisingly, when talin was added to a liposome solution, liposomes opened stable holes and were transformed into cup-shaped liposomes. The holes became larger with inc...

Amyloid- β aggregates play a causative role in Alzheimer's disease. These aggregates are a product of the physical environment provided by the basic neuronal membrane, composed of a lipid bilayer. The intrinsic properties of the lipid bilayer allow amyloid- β peptides to nucleate and form well-ordered cross- β sheets within the membrane. Here, we correlate the aggregation of the hydrophobic fra...

We are building a biosensor based on ion channels inserted into lipid bilayers that are suspended across an aperture in silicon. The process flow only involves conventional optical lithography and deep Si reactive ion etching to create micromachined apertures in a silicon wafer. In order to provide surface properties for lipid bilayer attachment that are similar to those of the fluorocarbon fil...

We present a micro-device in which more than 10,000 asymmetric lipid bilayer membranes are formed at a time on micro-chamber arrays. The arrayed asymmetric lipid bilayers, where lipid compositions are different between the inner and outer leaflets, are formed with high efficiency of over 97% by injecting several types of liquids into a micro-device that has hydrophilic-in-hydrophobic surfaces. ...

Phenyltins are chemicals widely used in industry, hence their occurrence in the human environment is frequent and widespread. Such compounds include hydrophobic phenyl rings bonded to positively charged tin. This molecular structure makes them capable of adsorbing onto and penetrating through biological membranes, hence they are potentially hazardous. Two such compounds, diphenyltin and triphen...

Amiodarone is a widely prescribed antiarrhythmic drug used to treat the most prevalent type of arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation (AF). At therapeutic concentrations, amiodarone alters the function of many diverse membrane proteins, which results in complex therapeutic and toxicity profiles. Other antiarrhythmics, such as dronedarone, similarly alter the function of multiple membrane proteins, sug...

Cell membranes possess a complex three-dimensional architecture, including nonrandom lipid lateral organization within the plane of a bilayer leaflet, and compositional asymmetry between the two leaflets. As a result, delineating the membrane structure-function relationship has been a highly challenging task. Even in simplified model systems, the interactions between bilayer leaflets are poorly...

Protein folding has been at the forefront of molecular cell biology research for several years. However, integral membrane proteins have eluded detailed molecular level study until recently. One reason is the often apparently insurmountable problem of mimicking the natural membrane bilayer with lipid or detergent mixtures. There is nevertheless a large body of information on lipid properties an...

Model biological membranes are becoming increasingly important for studying fundamental biophysical phenomena and developing membrane-based devices. To address the anticipated problem of non-physiological interactions between membrane proteins and substrates seen in "solid-supported lipid bilayers" that are formed directly on hydrophilic substrates, we have developed a polymer-tethered lipid bi...

Determining the chemical composition of biological materials is paramount to the study of natural phenomena. Here, we describe the composition of model gram-negative outer membranes, focusing on the predominant assembly, an asymmetrical bilayer of lipid molecules. We also give an overview of lipid biosynthetic pathways and molecular mechanisms that organize this material into the outer membrane...