Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2025
09:29
Obtention of Giant Unilamellar Hybrid Vesicles by Electroformation and Measurement of their Mechanical Properties by Micropipette Aspiration
Published on: January 19, 2020
8.5K
Autonomous Vesicle/Sheet Transformation of Cell-Sized Lipid Bilayers by Hetero-Grafted Copolymers
Tsukuru Masuda1, Shutaro Takahashi1, Takuro Ochiai1
1School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, B-57 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa226-8501, Japan.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|November 28, 2022
Summary
Researchers developed a novel system for transforming 3D lipid vesicles into 2D nanosheets. This breakthrough enables smart nanointerfaces for controlled lipid membrane dynamics and creates convertible 2D-3D biomaterials.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Cellular Engineering
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Lipid bilayer transformations are crucial for cellular processes like division and transport.
- Creating artificial materials to control membrane dynamics is key for cellular engineering and drug delivery.
- Transforming 3D lipid vesicles to 2D nanosheets is thermodynamically challenging due to unfavorable interfaces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To understand the mechanisms of lipid nanosheet formation.
- To investigate the structural effects of cationic copolymers on nanosheet formation.
- To develop an autonomous 2D/3D transformation system for lipid vesicles.
Main Methods:
- Systematic investigation of cationic copolymer structures and their effect on lipid nanosheet formation.
- Utilizing cell-sized lipid vesicles (giant vesicles) and amphiphilic E5 peptide.
- Designing and synthesizing hetero-grafted cationic copolymers with thermoresponsive grafts.
Main Results:
- Lipid nanosheet formation was found to be an all-or-nothing process, controlled by copolymer graft content.
- A critical graft content range (5.7 mol % to 7.7 mol %) was identified for efficient nanosheet formation.
- A novel thermoresponsive copolymer enabled spontaneous 3D vesicle to 2D nanosheet transformation triggered by temperature.
Conclusions:
- The study elucidates the control mechanisms for lipid nanosheet formation using cationic copolymers.
- A new system for autonomous, temperature-responsive 2D/3D transformation of lipid membranes was successfully developed.
- These findings pave the way for smart nanointerfaces and convertible 2D-3D lipid-based biomaterials.
Related Concept Videos
01:32Pinching-off of Coated Vesicles
3.2K
Vesicle budding is orchestrated by distinct cytosolic proteins such as adaptor proteins, coat proteins, and GTPases. To initiate vesicle budding, membrane-bending proteins containing crescent-shaped BAR domains bind to the lipid heads in the bilayer and distort the membrane to form a protein-coated vesicle bud. Adaptors proteins such as AP2 for clathrin-coated vesicles can nucleate on the deformed membrane. Finally, coat proteins such as clathrin or COPI and COPII assemble into a coat forming...
3.2K
00:59COP Coated Vesicles
7.9K
Membrane-enclosed structures called vesicles transport proteins and lipids across the cell. The vesicles derive their cargo from the plasma membrane, Golgi, ER, or endosome. Coated vesicles are spherical, protein-coated carriers with a 50–100 nm diameter that mediate bidirectional transport between the ER and the Golgi. The distribution of proteins between the ER and Golgi complex is dynamic and is maintained by different coated vesicles. Their formation is driven by the assembly of...
7.9K
01:35Asymmetric Lipid Bilayer
7.4K
Biological membranes show uneven distribution of different types of lipids in the inner and outer layers, resulting in transverse asymmetric membranes. The treatment of the erythrocyte membrane with the enzyme phospholipase confirmed the asymmetric nature of the lipid bilayer. The enzyme hydrolyzes lipids into fatty acids and hydrophilic groups. The phospholipase acts only on the outer layer of the membrane, while the inner layer remains intact. The phospholipase treatment resulted in 80%...
7.4K
01:12Clathrin Coated Vesicles
7.2K
Clathrin-coated vesicles use endocytosis to transport receptors and lysosomal hydrolases from the Golgi to the lysosome in the late secretory pathway. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis was the first described endocytic process, and Clathrin-coated vesicles remain one of the most well-studied transport vesicles. The molecular machinery that generates clathrin-coated vesicles comprises over 50 proteins that precisely coordinate vesicle formation. Cell surface receptors concentrated in indented sites...
7.2K
01:45Vesicular Tubular Clusters
2.6K
After budding out from the ER membrane, some COPII vesicles lose their coat and fuse with one another to form larger vesicles and interconnected tubules called vesicular tubular clusters or VTCs. These clusters constitute a compartment at the ER-Golgi interface known as ERGIC (Endoplasmic Reticulum Golgi Intermediate Compartment). The ERGIC is a mobile membrane-bound cargo transport system that sorts proteins secreted from ER and delivers them to the Golgi.
With the help of motor proteins such...
With the help of motor proteins such...
2.6K
01:28Assembly of the Lipid Bilayer in the ER
3.3K
Biological membranes are more than just a barrier separating cell cytoplasm from the outside environment. They are highly dynamic and help maintain the integrity and physiological stability of the cells as well as membrane-bound organelles. Membranes also play vital roles in cell-to-cell and intracellular communication.
A large chunk of any biological membrane is composed of phospholipids. These lipids have a heterogeneous distribution across different subcellular organelles and even between...
A large chunk of any biological membrane is composed of phospholipids. These lipids have a heterogeneous distribution across different subcellular organelles and even between...
3.3K