Lipid bilayers asymmetry

In all the systems considered above the photosensitizer was embedded in the membrane symmetrically, i.e. identical S molecules are located near both the inner and the outer surfaces of the vesicle membranes. Of great interest would also be to create asymmetric membranes providing a specially organized gradient of the redox potential across the lipid bilayer. Asymmetry of a membrane can be realized, e.g. if one locates the molecules with different redox potentials within the membrane near its inner and outer interfaces. An asymmetric membrane containing the components required for photochemical separation of charges at the lipid // water... 

Lipid bilayer asymmetry in biological membranes and its possible causes... 

Lipid bilayer asymmetry. The compositions of the outer and inner layers differ, t e concentration of bulky molecules is higher in the outer layer, which has more room. 

In studies with specific phospholipases the asymmetry in the composition of the lipid bilayer was also suggested [102,162]. The requirement of specific phospholipids, which are essential for enzyme activity, however, has not been established. For example, Saccomani et al. [102] demonstrated that readdition of various phospholipids, after phospholipase A2 treatment, results in a restoration of the K -ATPase activity. On the other hand, Nandi et al. [161] observed a restoration of the K -ATPase activity with addition of phosphatidylcholine and not with phosphatidyl-... 

Myelin in situ has a water content of about 40%. The dry mass of both CNS and PNS myelin is characterized by a high proportion of lipid (70-85%) and, consequently, a low proportion of protein (15-30%). By comparison, most biological membranes have a higher ratio of proteins to lipids. The currently accepted view of membrane structure is that of a lipid bilayer with integral membrane proteins embedded in the bilayer and other extrinsic proteins attached to one surface or the other by weaker linkages. Proteins and lipids are asymmetrically distributed in this bilayer, with only partial asymmetry of the lipids. The proposed molecular architecture of the layered membranes of compact myelin fits such a concept (Fig. 4-11). Models of compact myelin are based on data from electron microscopy, immunostaining, X-ray diffraction, surface probes studies, structural abnormalities in mutant mice, correlations between structure and composition in various species, and predictions of protein structure from sequencing information [4]. 

Components of a photosystem can be inserted selectively into the lipid wall or the inner cavity of the vesicle. For this purpose the lipid and components insoluble in water are dispersed together in aqueous solution by sonification. This leads to an occlusion of water insoluble components within the lipid bilayer. The vesicle membrane is sufficiently stable and impermeable for a number of ions. This allows one to prepare, by gel-filtering, the media of different ionic composition inside and outside the vesicle as shown in Fig. 2b. Such asymmetry of chemical content can be preserved for a rather long time (from several hours to several days). Recently the surfactant molecules with double bonds, which can be polymerized after vesicle preparation, were used for further enhancement of vesicle stability [37-39]. Such polymerized vesicles are stable for several months. 

To conclude, we presented a new method to account for the effect of the thermal fluctuations on the interactions between elastic membranes, based on a predicted intermembrane separation distribution. It was shown that for a typical potential, the distribution function is asymmetric, with an asymmetry dependent on the applied pressure and on the interaction potential between membranes. Equations for the pressure, root-mean-square fluctuation, and asymmetry as functions of the average distance (and the parameters of the interacting membranes) were derived. While no experimental data are available for two interacting lipid bilayers, a comparison with experimental data for multilayers of lipid bilayer/water was provided. The values of the parameters, determined from the fit of experimental data, were found within the ranges determined from other experiments. 

Lipids are not covalently bound in membranes but rather interact dynamically to form transient arrangements with asymmetry both perpendicular and parallel to the plane of the lipid bilayer. The fluidity, supermolecular-phase propensity, lateral pressure and surface charge of the bilayer matrix is largely determined by the collective properties of the complex mixture of individual lipid species, some of which are shown in Fig. 8.1. Lipids also interact with and bind to proteins in stiochiometric amounts affecting protein structure and function. The broad range of lipid properties coupled with the dynamic organization of lipids in membranes multiplies their functional diversity in modulating the environment and therefore the function of membrane proteins. 

It seems now that the self-closure of fragments of lipid bilayers, and the budding off mechanism due to an induced membrane asymmetry, can explain the majority of the... 

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