Transbilayer Complementarity of Phospholipids. A Look beyond the Fluid Mosaic Model

Zhang, Jianbing; Jing, Bingwen; Tokutake, Nobuya; Regen, Steven L.

doi:10.1021/ja046892a

Cited by 38 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Within these domains, a complementary organization is found, in which long lipids on one side of the bilayer are faced by short ones on the opposite side. This is in agreement with experimental findings on lipid organization in mixed bilayer [81]. This arrangement of lipid molecules minimizes the exposition of the longer lipid tails to the water environment.…”

Section: Empirical Coarse-grained Modelssupporting

confidence: 92%

Mesoscopic models of biological membranes

Venturoli¹,

et al. 2006

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Phospholipids are the main components of biological membranes and dissolved in water these molecules self-assemble into closed structures, of which bilayers are the most relevant from a biological point of view. Lipid bilayers are often used, both in experimental and by theoretical investigations, as model systems to understand the fundamental properties of biomembranes. The properties of lipid bilayers can be studied at different time and length scales. For some properties it is sufficient to envision a membrane as an elastic sheet, while for others it is important to take into account the details of the individual atoms. In this review, we focus on an intermediate level, where groups of atoms are lumped into pseudo-particles to arrive at a coarse-grained, or mesoscopic, description of a bilayer, which is subsequently studied using molecular simulation.The aim of this review is to compare various strategies to coarse grain a biological membrane. The conclusion of this comparison is that there can be many valid different strategies, but that the results obtained by the various mesoscopic models are surprisingly consistent. A second objective of this review is to illustrate how mesoscopic models can be used to obtain a better understanding of experimental systems. The advantage of coarse-grained models is that these can be simulated very efficiently, so that phenomena involving large systems, or requiring a large number of simulations, can be studied in detail. This is illustrated with the study of the relation between the phase behavior of a membrane and the structure of the phospholipids, and the membrane structural changes due to molecules (such as alcohols, cholesterol and anesthetics) adsorbed to the membrane. We then discuss the effect of transmembrane peptides on the local structure of a membrane and the mechanism of vesicle fusion and fission.

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Section: Empirical Coarse-grained Modelssupporting

confidence: 92%

Mesoscopic models of biological membranes

Venturoli¹,

et al. 2006

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“…Therefore, in the two competing tension theory, for small domains the line tension will dominate, which favors domain anti-registration, while for large domains, the interleaflet tension will dominate, which favors domain registration 46,62 . This explains the presence of registered (micron-sized) domains in fluorescence microscopy experiments and antiregistered nanoscopic or solid domains in simulations 62 and NMR experiments 58,59 . Both cases are quite different from biological membrane domains that can be as small as tens of nm and are thought to be in register according to other biochemical assays 49, 52 .…”

Section: Line and Interleaflet Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Experimental work has shown direct evidence of interleaflet coupling in the form of domain alignment between the bilayer leaflets in symmetric giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) and supported bilayers 51,[54][55][56][57] . An alternative coupling mechanism has also been reported, manifested as anti-correlation in small (nm) or solid domains [58][59][60][61][62] . Owing to recent advance in generating asymmetric vesicle models, calorimetric measurements of melting transitions in these asymmetric models also supported the notion of interleaflet coupling 63 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Lateral organization, bilayer asymmetry, and inter-leaflet coupling of biological membranes

Nickels

Smith

Cheng

2015

Chemistry and Physics of Lipids

108

115

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Understanding of cell membrane organization has evolved significantly from the classic fluid mosaic model. It is now recognized that biological membranes are highly organized structures, with differences in lipid compositions between inner and outer leaflets and in lateral structures within the bilayer plane, known as lipid rafts. These organizing principles are important for protein localization and function as well as cellular signaling. However, the mechanisms and biophysical basis of lipid raft formation, structure, dynamics and function are not clearly understood. One key question, which we focus on in this review, is how lateral organization and leaflet compositional asymmetry are coupled. Detailed information elucidating this question has been sparse because of the small size and transient nature of rafts and the experimental challenges in constructing asymmetric bilayers. Resolving this mystery will require advances in both experimentation and modeling. We discuss here the preparation of model systems along with experimental and computational approaches that have been applied in efforts to address this key question in membrane biology. We seek to place recent and future advances in experimental and computational techniques in context, providing insight into in-plane and transverse organization of biological membranes.

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“…9 For a binary lipid system with the two lipid types differing only in the tail length, the NNR method demonstrated a complementary organization across the bilayer. 8 Where a long lipid is in one monolayer, a short lipid exists underneath in the bottom monolayer ( Figure 1A).…”

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confidence: 99%

Complementary Matching in Domain Formation within Lipid Bilayers

Stevens

2005

J. Am. Chem. Soc.

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Domain structure and formation in lipid bilayers are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations using a coarse-grained lipid model. The lipid bilayers consist of two lipid types that are identical except for tail length. At a temperature intermediate to the two melting temperatures of the constituent lipid types, gel domains spontaneously form from an initial random structure. The simulations reveal that the gel domains consist of both lipid types in a complementary match. If a long lipid is in the top monolayer, then a short lipid is underneath and vice versa. The gel domains have a larger thickness than the surrounding liquid phase. The thickness of the gel domains is close to that of the pure long lipid gel phase bilayers. However, since in the mixed gel domains the lipids are not tilted and in the pure gel phase the lipids are tilted, the two thicknesses are similar, and the underlying structure is therefore not distinguishable solely by thickness measurements.

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Transbilayer Complementarity of Phospholipids. A Look beyond the Fluid Mosaic Model

Cited by 38 publications

References 14 publications

Mesoscopic models of biological membranes

Mesoscopic models of biological membranes

Lateral organization, bilayer asymmetry, and inter-leaflet coupling of biological membranes

Complementary Matching in Domain Formation within Lipid Bilayers

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