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Updated: May 20, 2026

A Model Membrane Platform for Reconstituting Mitochondrial Membrane Dynamics
Published on: September 2, 2020
Acyl-chain correlation in membrane fusion intermediates: x-ray diffraction from the rhombohedral lipid phase
Britta Weinhausen1, Sebastian Aeffner, Tobias Reusch
1Institut für Röntgenphysik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
We have studied the acyl-chain conformation in stalk phases of model membranes by x-ray diffraction from oriented samples. As an equilibrium lipid phase induced by dehydration, the stalk or rhombohedral phase exhibits lipidic passages (stalks) between adjacent bilayers, representing a presumed intermediate state in membrane fusion. From the detailed analysis of the acyl-chain correlation peak, we deduce the structural parameters of the acyl-chain fluid above, at, and below the transition from the lamellar to rhombohedral state, at the molecular level.
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