Bilayer Charge Asymmetry and Oil Residues Destabilize Membranes upon Poration.

ABSTRACT: Transmembrane asymmetry is ubiquitous in cells, particularly with respect to lipids, where charged lipids are mainly restricted to one monolayer. We investigate the influence of anionic lipid asymmetry on the stability of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), minimal plasma membrane models. To quantify asymmetry, we apply the fluorescence quenching assay, which is often difficult to reproduce, and caution in handling the quencher is generally underestimated. We first optimize this assay and then apply it to GUVs prepared with the inverted emulsion transfer protocol by using increasing fractions of anionic lipids restricted to one leaflet. This protocol is found to produce highly asymmetric bilayers but with ∼20% interleaflet mixing. To probe the stability of asymmetric versus symmetric membra

SUBMITTER: Leomil FSC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10919074 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature