Impact of the number of rhamnose moieties of rhamnolipids on the structure, lateral organization and morphology of model biomembranes

Abstract

Various studies have described remarkable biological activities and surface-active properties of rhamnolipids, leading to their proposed use in a wide range of industrial applications. Here, we report on a study...

Recent advances in biosurfactant-based association colloids—Self-assembly in water

“…The impact of mono-and dirhamnolipids on giant unilamellar phospholipid vesicles has been studied by the group of Winter [Herzog et al (2020); Herzog et al (2021)]. The formation of daughter vesicles upon addition of either RhaRhaC10C10, RhaC10C10 (corresponding to the di-and monorhamnolipids as illustrated for RhaRhaC8C8 and RhaC8C8 in Figures 1C,D), and the sugar-free precursor C10C10 has been imaged as shown in Figure 2 and is interpreted in terms of the different spontaneous curvatures.…”

“…FIGURE 2Confocal fluorescence microscopy of giant unilamellar vesicles showing budding and fission of domains after addition of RhaC10C10. reproduced from reference[Herzog et al (2021)] with permission from the Royal Society of Chemistry.…”

Carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction drives the preferential insertion of dirhamnolipid into glycosphingolipid enriched membranes

“…Clearly, the presence of sugars on the target systems bridged the diRL affinity to membranes, but the membrane results to be deeply altered, being high the amount of solvent at the distances from the solid support where usually the hydrophobic core of the membrane is found. In fact, membrane destabilization may be due to a role of diRL in the production of defects for solvent penetration, connected to the previously demonstrated ability of diRL to enhance membrane local curvature [19,54], driving to rupture when the membrane is mechanically stressed.…”

“…Several studies have been performed to investigate the effects brought by RLs to model lipid membranes, showing their importance in membrane stabilization or destabilization and in regulation of lipid polymorphism [17][18][19]. For example, the ability of RLs mixture to increase the fluidity of DPPC bilayers is parallel to the increase of vesicle permeation and may be related to the strong haemolytic power of these molecules [20,21].…”

Rhamnolipid Self-Aggregation in Aqueous Media: A Long Journey toward the Definition of Structure–Property Relationships

“…Rhamnolipids are glycolipids in which the amphiphilic structure arises from the presence of a hydrophilic head, consisting of one or two L-rhamnose units (Rha) linked by an α-1,2-glycosidic linkage, and a hydrophobic part, composed of one, two, and, in a few cases, three β-hydroxy-fatty acids linked to each other through an ester bond formed between the β-hydroxyl group of the distal (relative to the glycosidic bond) chain with the carboxyl group of the proximal chain [ 55 , 143 ]. In most cases, the carboxyl group of the distal β-hydroxy fatty acid chain remains free; few congeners, however, have this group esterified with a short alkyl group [ 55 ].…”