Nanoplasmonic Sensing Architectures for Decoding Membrane Curvature-Dependent Biomacromolecular Interactions

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Nanotechnology
• Surface Science

Background:

• Nanoplasmonic sensors offer advanced methods for studying biomolecular interactions at lipid membrane interfaces.
• Fabrication capabilities allow for designing sensing platforms with diverse architectural configurations, including varying membrane curvature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of membrane curvature on biomolecular interactions using nanoplasmonic sensors.
• To characterize the fabrication of supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) on nanostructured surfaces and analyze curvature-dependent peptide interactions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an indirect nanoplasmonic sensing approach to monitor SLB formation via vesicle fusion.
• Employed nanoplasmonic sensing and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) for characterization.
• Resolved spectral signatures from different sensor geometries to analyze curvature-specific effects.

Main Results:

• Peptide binding induced membrane disruption specifically at positively curved membrane regions.
• Peptide binding occurred without disruption at planar and negatively curved membrane regions.
• Findings align with known peptide pore formation preferences in positively curved membranes.

Conclusions:

• Nanoplasmonic sensors integrated with varied nanoscale architectures effectively study membrane curvature's impact on biomolecular interactions.
• Demonstrated curvature-dependent peptide-induced membrane disruption, validating the nanoplasmonic sensing approach.