The aim of this work is to study pore protein denaturation inside a lipid bilayer and to probe current asymmetry as a function of the channel conformation. We describe the urea denaturation of alpha-hemolysin channel and the channel formation of alpha-hemolysin monomer incubated with urea prior to insertion into a lipid bilayer. Analysis of single-channel recordings of current traces reveals a sigmoid curve of current intensity as a function of urea concentration. The normalized current asymmetry at 29+/-4% is observed between 0 and 3.56M concentrations and vanishes abruptly down to 0 concentration exceeds 4M. The loss of current asymmetry through alpha-hemolysin is due to the denaturation of the channel's cap. We also show that the alpha-hemolysin pore inserted into a lipid bilayer is much more resistant to urea denaturation than the alpha-hemolysin monomer in solution: The pore remains in the lipid bilayer up to 7.2M urea. The pore formation is possible up to 4.66M urea when protein monomers were previously incubated in urea.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2007.06.036 | DOI Listing |
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
February 2025
Department of Microbiology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
The cytoplasmic membrane of bacteria is composed of a phospholipid bilayer made up of a diverse set of lipids. Phosphatidylglycerol (PG) is one of the principal constituents and its production is essential for growth in many bacteria. All the enzymes required for PG biogenesis in have been identified and characterized decades ago.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: is a high-priority organism for the development of new antibacterial treatments. We found that the antimalarial medication mefloquine (MFQ) permeabilized the bacterial cell membrane of , decreased membrane fluidity, and caused physical injury to the membrane. MFQ also maintained activity across different pH conditions (PH range 5-8).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiophys J
January 2025
Theoretical Physics of Living Matter, Institute of Biological Information Processing and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany. Electronic address:
Translocation across barriers and through constrictions is a mechanism that is often used in vivo for transporting material between compartments. A specific example is apicomplexan parasites invading host cells through the tight junction that acts as a pore, and a similar barrier crossing is involved in drug delivery using lipid vesicles penetrating intact skin. Here, we use triangulated membranes and energy minimization to study the translocation of vesicles through pores with fixed radii.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Pharm Sci
January 2025
Nanotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Department of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Biotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Electronic address:
Premature drug release is the primary hindrance to the effective function of the lyso-thermosensitive liposomes (LTSLs) of doxorubicin (Dox), known as ThermoDox® for the treatment of cancer. Herein, we have optimized LTSLs by using a combination of phospholipids (PLs) with high transition temperatures (Tm) to improve the therapeutic outcome in an assisted ultrasound approach. For this, several Dox LTSLs were prepared using the remote loading method at varying molar ratios (0 to 90%) of DPPC (Tm 41°C) and HSPC (Tm 54.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses
December 2024
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
Since the discovery of the Australia antigen, now known as the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), significant research has been conducted to elucidate its physical, chemical, structural, and functional properties. Subviral particles (SVPs) containing HBsAg are highly immunogenic, non-infectious entities that have not only revolutionized vaccine development but also provided critical insights into HBV immune evasion and viral assembly. Recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) have uncovered the heterogeneity and dynamic nature of spherical HBV SVPs, emphasizing the essential role of lipid-protein interactions in maintaining particle stability.
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