Visualizing Tension and Growth in Model Membranes Using Optical Dyes.

ABSTRACT: Cells dynamically regulate their membrane surface area during a variety of processes critical to their survival. Recent studies with model membranes have pointed to a general mechanism for surface area regulation under tension in which cell membranes unfold or take up lipid to accommodate membrane strain. Yet we lack robust methods to simultaneously measure membrane tension and surface area changes in real time. Using lipid vesicles that contain two dyes isolated to spatially distinct parts of the membrane, we introduce, to our knowledge, a new method to monitor the processes of membrane stretching and lipid uptake in model membranes. Laurdan, located within the bilayer membrane, and Förster resonance energy transfer dyes, localized to the membrane exterior, act in concert to report change

SUBMITTER: Boyd MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6170595 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature