Optimization of bicelle lipid composition and temperature for EPR spectroscopy of aligned membranes.

ABSTRACT: We have optimized the magnetic alignment of phospholipid bilayered micelles (bicelles) for EPR spectroscopy, by varying lipid composition and temperature. Bicelles have been extensively used in NMR spectroscopy for several decades, in order to obtain aligned samples in a near-native membrane environment and take advantage of the intrinsic sensitivity of magnetic resonance to molecular orientation. Recently, bicelles have also seen increasing use in EPR, which offers superior sensitivity and orientational resolution. However, the low magnetic field strength (less than 1 T) of most conventional EPR spectrometers results in homogeneously oriented bicelles only at a temperature well above physiological. To optimize bicelle composition for magnetic alignment at reduced temperature, we prepared

SUBMITTER: McCaffrey JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4286475 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature