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  4. Lengths of n-alcohols govern how Lo-Ld mixing temperatures shift in synthetic and cell-derived membranes
 
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Lengths of n-alcohols govern how Lo-Ld mixing temperatures shift in synthetic and cell-derived membranes
File(s)
1-s2.0-S0006349517307579-main.pdf (1.28 MB)
Article In Press
Author(s)
Cornell, CE
McCarthy, NLC
Levental, KR
Levental, I
Brooks, NJ
more
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A persistent challenge in membrane biophysics has been to quantitatively predict how membrane physical properties change upon addition of new amphiphiles (e.g., lipids, alcohols, peptides, or proteins) in order to assess whether the changes are large enough to plausibly result in biological ramifications. Because of their roles as general anesthetics, n-alcohols are perhaps the best-studied amphiphiles of this class. When n-alcohols are added to model and cell membranes, changes in membrane parameters tend to be modest. One striking exception is found in the large decrease in liquid-liquid miscibility transition temperatures (Tmix) observed when short-chain n-alcohols are incorporated into giant plasma membrane vesicles (GPMVs). Coexisting liquid-ordered and liquid-disordered phases are observed at temperatures below Tmix in GPMVs as well as in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) composed of ternary mixtures of a lipid with a low melting temperature, a lipid with a high melting temperature, and cholesterol. Here, we find that when GUVs of canonical ternary mixtures are formed in aqueous solutions of short-chain n-alcohols (n ≤ 10), Tmix increases relative to GUVs in water. This shift is in the opposite direction from that reported for cell-derived GPMVs. The increase in Tmix is robust across GUVs of several types of lipids, ratios of lipids, types of short-chain n-alcohols, and concentrations of n-alcohols. However, as chain lengths of n-alcohols increase, nonmonotonic shifts in Tmix are observed. Alcohols with chain lengths of 10–14 carbons decrease Tmix in ternary GUVs of dioleoyl-PC/dipalmitoyl-PC/cholesterol, whereas 16 carbons increase Tmix again. Gray et al. observed a similar influence of the length of n-alcohols on the direction of the shift in Tmix. These results are consistent with a scenario in which the relative partitioning of n-alcohols between liquid-ordered and liquid-disordered phases evolves as the chain length of the n-alcohol increases.
Date Issued
2017-08-09
Date Acceptance
2017-06-30
Citation
Biophysical Journal, 2017, 113, pp.1-13
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/49836
URL
http://www.cell.com/biophysj/fulltext/S0006-3495(17)30757-9
DOI
https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2017.06.066
ISSN
1542-0086
Publisher
Biophysical Society
Start Page
1
End Page
13
Journal / Book Title
Biophysical Journal
Volume
113
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Biophysical Society.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
http://www.cell.com/biophysj/fulltext/S0006-3495(17)30757-9
Grant Number
EP/J017566/1
Subjects
02 Physical Sciences
03 Chemical Sciences
06 Biological Sciences
Biophysics
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2017-08-08
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