Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2026

Pulling Membrane Nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles
Published on: December 7, 2017
Membrane protrusion coarsening and nanotubulation within giant unilamellar vesicles
Ilona Węgrzyn1, Gavin D M Jeffries, Birgit Nagel
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden.
Abstract:
Hydrophobic side groups on a stimuli-responsive polymer, encapsulated within a single giant unilamellar vesicle, enable membrane attachment during compartment formation at elevated temperatures. We thermally modulated the vesicle through implementation of an IR laser via an optical fiber, enabling localized directed heating. Polymer-membrane interactions were monitored using confocal imaging techniques as subsequent membrane protrusions occurred and lipid nanotubes formed in response to the polymer hydrogel contraction. These nanotubes, bridging the vesicle membrane to the contracting hydrogel, were retained on the surface of the polymer compartment, where they were transformed into smaller vesicles in a process reminiscent of cellular endocytosis. This development of a synthetic vesicle system containing a stimuli-responsive polymer could lead to a new platform for studying inter/intramembrane transport through lipid nanotubes.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Types of Membrane Protrusions
The microvilli, an example of stable protrusions, are finger-like projections with a...
Vesicular Tubular Clusters
With the help of motor proteins such...
Pinching-off of Coated Vesicles
Intralumenal Vesicles and Multivesicular Bodies
Mechanisms of Membrane Domain Formation
Another mechanism for membrane domain formation involves membrane proteins interacting with cytoskeletal...
Clathrin Coated Vesicles

