Lipids chiral bilayer effect

It stabilizes the lyotropic liquid crystalline state of biological assemblies relative to the crystalline state, due to the so-called chiral bilayer effect, which will be discussed in more detail in Section 4.2. For example, 10-nonacosanol, extruded from the lipophilic wax layer of pine needles, forms fluid lipid tubules rather than crystals. Although it is difficult to establish the enantiopurity of the natural product, the fact that synthetic pure enantiomers produce tubules while the racemate gives platelets suggests that the biologically relevant morphology is attained because of the enantiopurity of the biomolecule. °... 

It is now well established that proteins can induce phase transitions in lipid membranes, resulting in new structures not found in pure lipid-water systems (c/. section 5.1). However, this property is not peculiar to proteins the same effect can be induced by virtually any amphiphilic molecule. Depending on the structure and nature of proteins, their interactions with lipid bilayers can be manifested in very different ways. We may further assume that the role of proteins in the biogenesis of cubic membranes is analogous to that in condensed systems, and lipids are necessary for the formation of a cubic membrane. This assumption is supported by studies of membrane oxidation, which induce a structure-less proteinaceous mass [113]. However, the existence of a lipid bilayer by itself does not guarantee the formation of a cubic membrane, as proteins may also play an essential role in setting the membrane curvature. In this context, note that the presence of chiral components e.g. proteins) may induce saddle-shaped structures characteristic of cubic membranes. (This feature of chiral packings has been discussed briefly in section 4.14)... 

Converse flexoelectric studies of lyotropic liquid crystals, such as vesicles, is still an active subject. Notably, the sensory mechanism of outer hair cell composite membranes " can be understood by the flexoelectric properties of the lipid bilayer. The converse of this effect, i.e., a voltage-generated curvature, has also been observed and was discussed by Todorov et Another related phenomenon is the ferroelectricity which results from the tilted layered structures of chiral molecules, which has been discussed extensively since the 1980s.Ferroelectric phases are called... 

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