Crowding-induced morphological changes in synthetic lipid vesicles determined using smFRET.

ABSTRACT: Lipid vesicles are valuable mesoscale molecular confinement vessels for studying membrane mechanics and lipid-protein interactions, and they have found utility among bio-inspired technologies, including drug delivery vehicles. While vesicle morphology can be modified by changing the lipid composition and introducing fusion or pore-forming proteins and detergents, the influence of extramembrane crowding on vesicle morphology has remained under-explored owing to a lack of experimental tools capable of capturing morphological changes on the nanoscale. Here, we use biocompatible polymers to simulate molecular crowding in vitro, and through combinations of FRET spectroscopy, lifetime analysis, dynamic light scattering, and single-vesicle imaging, we characterize how crowding regulates ve

SUBMITTER: Quinn SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9650091 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature