Grafting Charged Species to Membrane-Embedded Scaffolds Dramatically Increases the Rate of Bilayer Flipping.

ABSTRACT: The cell membrane is a barrier to the passive diffusion of charged molecules due to the chemical properties of the lipid bilayer. Surprisingly, recent experiments have identified processes in which synthetic and biological charged species directly transfer across lipid bilayers on biologically relevant time scales. In particular, amphiphilic nanoparticles have been shown to insert into lipid bilayers, requiring the transport of charged species across the bilayer. The molecular factors facilitating this rapid insertion process remain unknown. In this work, we use atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the free energy barrier associated with "flipping" charged species across a lipid bilayer for species that are grafted to a membrane-embedded scaffold, such as a membrane-embedd

SUBMITTER: Van Lehn RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5364453 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature