Fusion of liposomes with mitochondrial inner membranes

A procedure is outlined for the fusion of mixed phospholipid liposomes (small unilamellar vesicles) with the mitochondrial inner membrane, which enriches the membrane lipid bilayer 30-700% in a controlled fashion. Fusion was initiated by manipulation of the pH of a mixture of freshly sonicated liposomes and the functional inner membrane/matrix fraction of rat liver mitochondria. During the pH fusion procedure, liposomes became closely apposed with and sequestered by the inner membranes as revealed by freeze-fracture electron microscopy. After the pH fusion procedure, a number of ultrastructural, compositional, and functional characteristics were found to be proportionally related: the membrane surface area increased; the lateral density distribution of intramembrane particles (integral proteins) in the plane of the membrane decreased whereas the particles remained random; the membrane became more buoyant; the ratio of membrane lipid phosphorus to total membrane protein increased; the ratio of membrane lipid phosphorus to heme a of cytochrome c oxidase increased; and the rate of electron transfer between some interacting membrane oxidoreduction proteins decreased. These data reveal that liposomal phospholipid was incorporated into the membrane bilayer (not simply adsorbed to the membrane surface) and that integral membrane proteins diffused freely into the laterally expanding bilayer. Furthermore, the data suggest that the rate of electron transfer may be limited by the rate of lateral diffusion of oxidoreduction components in the bilayer of the mitochondrial inner membrane.