Interaction of bovine brain phospholipid exchange protein with liposomes of different lipid composition

The major phospholipid exchange protein from bovine brain catalyzes the transfer of phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylcholine between rat liver microsomes and sonicated liposomes. The effect of liposomal lipid composition on the transfer of these phospholipids has been investigated. Standard liposomes contained phosphatidylcholine-phosphatidic acid (98 : 2, mol%); in general, phosphatidylcholine was substituted by various positively charged, negatively charged, or zwitterionic lipids. The transfer of phosphatidylinositol was essentially unaffected by the incorporation into liposomes of phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylserine, or phosphatidylglycerol (5--20 mol%) but strongly depressed by the incorporation of stearylamine (10--40 mol%). Marked stimulation (2--4-fold) of transfer activity was observed into liposomes containing phosphatidylethanolamine (2--40 mol%). The inclusion of sphingomyelin in the acceptor liposomes gave mixed results: stimulation at low levels (2--10 mol%) and inhibition at higher levels (up to 40 mol%). Cholesterol slightly diminished transfer activity at a liposome cholesterol/phospholipid molar ratio of 0.81. Similar effects were noted for the transfer to phospholipidcholine from microsomes to these various liposomes. Compared to standard liposomes, the magnitude of Km tended to increase for liposomes which depressed phospholipid transfer and to decrease for those which stimulated; little change was observed in the values of V. Single phospholipid liposomes of phosphatidylinositol were inhibitory when added to standard liposomes. Because bovine brain phospholipid exchange protein is able to distinguish among a wide spectrum of membrane interfaces, taking into account variations in the polar head groups as well as the fatty acyl moieties of the liposomal phospholipids, it may be considered a reasonable model system for protein-lipid and protein-membrane interactions.