Engineering Phosphatidylserine Containing Asymmetric Giant Unilamellar Vesicles.

The plasma membrane lipid distribution is asymmetric, with several anionic lipid species located in its inner leaflet. Among these, phosphatidylserine (PS) plays a crucial role in various important physiological functions. Over the last decade several methods have been developed that allow for the fabrication of large or giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with an asymmetric lipid composition.

Thermal stability of bivalent cation/phosphoinositide domains in model membranes.

As key mediators in a wide array of signaling events, phosphoinositides (PIPs) orchestrate the recruitment of proteins to specific cellular locations at precise moments. This intricate spatiotemporal regulation of protein activity often necessitates the localized enrichment of the corresponding PIP. We investigate the extent and thermal stabilities of phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI(4)P), phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P and phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P) clusters with calcium and magnesium ions.