Lipid domain specific recruitment of lipophilic nucleic acids: a key for switchable functionalization of membranes

Lipid domains in mammalian plasma membranes serve as platforms for specific recruitment or separation of proteins involved in various functions. Here, we have applied this natural strategy of lateral separation to functionalize lipid membranes at micrometer scale in a switchable and reversible manner. Membrane-anchored peptide nucleic acid and DNA, differing in their lipophilic moieties, partition into different lipid domains in model and biological membranes. Separation was visualized by hybridization with the respective complementary fluorescently labeled DNA strands. Upon heating, domains vanished, and both lipophilic nucleic acid structures intermixed with each other. Reformation of the lipid domains by cooling led again to separation of membrane-anchored nucleic acids. By linking appropriate structures/functions to complementary strands, this approach offers a reversible tool for triggering interactions among the structures and for the arrangement of reactions and signaling cascades on biomimetic surfaces.