Synthetic trehalose glycolipids confer desiccation resistance to supported lipid monolayers

Galactosyldiacylglycerols: From a Photosynthesis-Associated Apparatus to Structure-Defined In Vitro Assembling

Being ubiquitously present in plants, microalgae, and cyanobacteria and as the major constituents of thylakoid membranes, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) make up approximately 52 and 26%, respectively, of chloroplast lipids. Thylakoid membranes harbor the photosynthetic complexes and numerous essential biochemical pathways where MGDG and DGDG play a central role in facilitating photosynthesis light reaction, maintaining chloroplast morphology, and responding to abiotic stresses. Furthermore, these galactolipids are also bioactive compounds with antitumor, antimicrobial, antiviral, immunosuppressive, and anti-inflammatory activities and important nutritional value. These characteristics are strictly dependent upon their fatty acyl chain length, olefinic nature, and stereoconfiguration. However, their application potentials are practically untapped, largely as a result of the fact that their availability in large quantity and high purity (structured galactolipids) is challenging. In addition to laborious extraction from natural sources, in vitro assembling of these molecules could be a promising alternative. Thus, this review updates the latest advances in elucidating biosynthesis paths of MGDG and DGDG and related enzyme systems, which present invaluable inspiration to design approaches for a retrosynthesis of galactolipids. More critically, this work summarizes recent developments in the biological and enzymatic syntheses of galactolipids, especially the strategic scenarios for the construction of in vitro enzymatic and/or chemoenzymatic synthesis routes. Protein engineering of enzymes involved in the synthesis of MGDG and DGDG to improve their properties is highlighted, and the applications of galactolipids in foods and medicine are also discussed.

Cell envelope lipids in the pathophysiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an intracellular bacterium that persists and replicates inside macrophages. The bacterium possesses an unusual lipid-rich cell envelope that provides a hydrophobic impermeable barrier against many environmental stressors and allows it to survive extremely hostile intracellular surroundings. Since the lipid-rich envelope is crucial for M. tuberculosis virulence, the components of the cell wall lipid biogenesis pathways constitute an attractive target for the development of vaccines and antimycobacterial chemotherapeutics. In this review, we provide a detailed description of the mycobacterial cell envelope lipid components and their contributions to the physiology and pathogenicity of mycobacteria. We also discussed the current status of the antimycobacterial drugs that target biosynthesis, export and regulation of cell envelope lipids.

Solid-phase helicase dependent amplification and electrochemical detection of Salmonella on highly stable oligonucleotide-modified ITO electrodes

An on-surface isothermal helicase-dependent amplification is devised for simple, point-of-need quantification of bacterial genomes. The method relies on the enzyme-extension of a thiol-modified reverse primer anchored to indium tin oxide electrodes, which shows strikingly high thermal and storage stability. Amplification and electrochemical detection of only 10 genomes are thus performed on the same platform without thermal cycling.

Selective protein recognition in supported lipid bilayer arrays by tailored, dual-mode deep cavitand hosts

Self-folding deep cavitands with variably functionalized upper rims are able to selectively immobilize proteins at a biomimetic supported lipid bilayer surface. The immobilization process takes advantage of the dual-mode binding capabilities of the hosts, combining a defined binding pocket with upper rim charged/H-bonding groups. A variety of proteins can be selectively immobilized at the bilayer interface, either via complementary charge/H-bonding interactions, cavity-based molecular recognition, or a combination of both. The immobilization process can be used to bind unmodified native proteins, epitopes for bioadhesion, or proteins covalently modified with suitable RNMe3+ binding "handles" and charged groups that can either match or mismatch with the cavitand rim. The immobilization process can be monitored in real time using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy, and applied to the construction of cavitand:lipid arrays using the hosts and trehalose vitrified phospholipid vesicles. The selective, dual-mode protein recognition is maintained in the arrays, and can be visualized using SPR imaging.

Survivability of Mycobacterium bovis on salt and salt-mineral blocks fed to cattle

OBJECTIVE To determine the survivability of Mycobacterium bovis on salt and salt-mineral blocks in typical weather conditions in Michigan over two 12-day periods at the height of summer and winter. SAMPLE 4 salt (NaCl) and 4 salt-mineral blocks inoculated with pure cultures of a strain of M bovis currently circulating in Michigan livestock and wildlife. PROCEDURES In the summer and again in the winter, inoculated blocks were placed in secured outdoor facilities where equal numbers of each block type (2/type/season) were exposed to shade or sunlight. Samples were collected from randomly selected areas on the surface of each block beginning within 1 hour after placement (day 0) twice a day for the first 4 days and once a day from days 7 through 11. Bacterial culture of samples was performed to detect viable M bovis. RESULTS Depending on the exposure conditions, salt blocks yielded viable M bovis for up to 2 days after inoculation and salt-mineral blocks yielded viable M bovis for > 3 days. Survival time was greatest on salt-mineral blocks kept outdoors in the shade during the winter. The odds of recovering viable M bovis from salt-mineral block samples were 4.9 times as great during the winter (vs the summer) and 3.0 times as great with exposure to shade (vs sunlight). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results from this study indicated that salt and salt-mineral blocks should be considered potential sources of bovine tuberculosis when designing risk mitigation programs for cattle herds in areas with wildlife reservoirs of M bovis.

ADMET polymerization of α,ω-unsaturated glycolipids: synthesis and physico-chemical properties of the resulting polymers

Trehalose diesters exhibiting α,ω-unsaturation are glycolipids which can be easily polymerized by ADMET (acyclic diene metathesis) polymerization.

Current status in biotechnological production and applications of glycolipid biosurfactants

Biosurfactants are natural compounds with surface activity and emulsifying properties produced by several types of microorganisms and have been considered an interesting alternative to synthetic surfactants. Glycolipids are promising biosurfactants, due to low toxicity, biodegradability, and chemical stability in different conditions and also because they have many biological activities, allowing wide applications in different fields. In this review, we addressed general information about families of glycolipids, rhamnolipids, sophorolipids, mannosylerythritol lipids, and trehalose lipids, describing their chemical and surface characteristics, recent studies using alternative substrates, and new strategies to improve of production, beyond their specificities. We focus in providing recent developments and trends in biotechnological process and medical and industrial applications.

First total synthesis of trehalose containing tetrasaccharides from Mycobacterium smegmatis

Total synthesis of three important trehalose containing tetrasaccharides isolated fromMycobacterium smegmatisis reported for the first time, using regioselective opening of benzylidene acetals and stereoselective glycosylations as key steps.

Supported Lipid Bilayers for the Generation of Dynamic Cell-Material Interfaces

Supported lipid bilayers (SLB) offer unique possibilities for studying cellular membranes and have been used as a synthetic architecture to interact with cells. Here, the state-of-the-art in SLB-based technology is presented. The fabrication, analysis, characteristics and modification of SLBs are described in great detail. Numerous strategies to form SLBs on different substrates, and the means to patteren them, are described. The use of SLBs as model membranes for the study of membrane organization and membrane processes in vitro is highlighted. In addition, the use of SLBs as a substratum for cell analysis is presented, with discrimination between cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicry. The study is concluded with a discussion of the potential for in vivo applications of SLBs.

Cell and Protein Recognition at a Supported Bilayer Interface via In Situ Cavitand-Mediated Functional Polymer Growth

Water-soluble deep cavitands embedded in a supported lipid bilayer are capable of anchoring ATRP initiator molecules for the in situ synthesis of primary amine-containing polymethacrylate patches at the water:membrane interface. These polymers can be derivatized in situ to incorporate fluorescent reporters, allow selective protein recognition, and can be applied to the immobilization of nonadherent cells at the bilayer interface.

A hydrophobic disordered peptide spontaneously anchors a covalently bound RNA hairpin to giant lipidic vesicles

The attraction of nucleic acids to lipidic compartments is the first step for carriers of potentially inheritable information to self-organise in functionalised synthetic cells. Confocal fluorescence imaging shows that a synthetic amphiphilic peptidyl RNA molecule spontaneously accumulates at the outer bilayer membranes of phospho- and glycolipidic giant vesicles. Cooperatively attractive interactions of -3.4 to -4.0 kcal mol(-1) between a random coil hydrophobic peptide and lipid membranes can thus pilot lipophobic RNA to its compartmentation. The separation of mixed lipid phases in the membranes further enhances the local concentration of anchored RNA.

Using a patterned grating structure to create lipid bilayer platforms insensitive to air bubbles

Supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) have been used for various biosensing applications. The bilayer structure enables embedded lipid membrane species to maintain their native orientation, and the two-dimensional fluidity is crucial for numerous biomolecular interactions to occur. The platform integrated with a microfluidic device for reagent transport and exchange has great potential to be applied with surface analytical tools. However, SLBs can easily be destroyed by air bubbles during assay reagent transport and exchange. Here, we created a patterned obstacle grating structured surface in a microfluidic channel to protect SLBs from being destroyed by air bubbles. Unlike all of the previous approaches using chemical modification or adding protection layers to strengthen lipid bilayers, the uniqueness of this approach is that it uses the patterned obstacles to physically trap water above the bilayers to prevent the air-water interface from directly coming into contact with and peeling the bilayers. We showed that our platform with certain grating geometry criteria can provide promising protection to SLBs from air bubbles. The required obstacle distance was found to decrease when we increased the air-bubble movement speed. In addition, the interaction assay results from streptavidin and biotinylated lipids in the confined SLBs suggested that receptors at the SLBs retained the interaction ability after air-bubble treatment. The results showed that the developed SLB platform can preserve both high membrane fluidity and high accessibility to the outside environment, which have never been simultaneously achieved before. Incorporating the built platforms with some surface analytical tools could open the bottleneck of building highly robust in vitro cell-membrane-related bioassays.

Creating air-stable supported lipid bilayers by physical confinement induced by phospholipase A2

Supported lipid bilayer platforms have been used for various biological applications. However, the lipid bilayers easily delaminate and lose their natural structure after being exposed to an air-water interface. In this study, for the first time, we demonstrated that physical confinement can be used instead of chemical modifications to create air-stable membranes. Physical confinement was generated by the obstacle network induced by a peripheral enzyme, phospholipase A2. The enzyme and reacted lipids could be washed away from the obstacle network, which was detergent-resistant and strongly bonded to the solid support. On the basis of these properties, the obstacle framework on the solid support was reusable and lipid bilayers with the desired composition could be refilled and formed in the region confined by the obstacle framework. The results of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) indicate that the diffusivities of the lipid bilayers before drying and after rehydration were comparable, indicating the air stability of the physically confined membrane. In addition, we observed that the obstacles could trap a thin layer of water after the air-water interface passed through the lipid bilayer. Because the obstacles were demonstrated to be several times higher than a typical lipid membrane on a support, the obstacles may act as container walls, which can trap water above the lipid membrane. The water layer may have prevented the air-water interface from directly contacting the lipid membrane and, therefore, buffered the interfacial force, which could cause membrane delamination. The results suggest the possibility of using physical confinement to create air-stable membranes without changing local membrane rigidity or covering the membrane with protecting molecules.

Non-specific interactions between soluble and induce irreversible changes in the properties of bilayers

Soluble in the extracellular matrix experience a crowded environment. However, most of the biophysical studies performed to date have focused on concentrations within the dilute regime (well below the mM range). Here, we systematically studied the interaction of model cell membrane systems (giant unilamellar vesicles and supported bilayers) with soluble globular , bovine serum albumin, and lysozyme at physiologically relevant concentrations. To mimic the extracellular environment more closely, we also used fetal bovine serum as a good representative of a biomimetic mixture. We found that regardless of the used (and thus of their biological function), the interactions between a model cell membrane and these are determined by their physico-chemical characteristics, mainly their dipolar character (or charged patches). In this paper we discuss the specificity and reversibility of these interactions and their potential implications on the living cells. In particular, we report initial evidence for an additional role of in cell membranes: that of reducing the effects of non-specific of soluble on the cell membrane.

Diversion of phagosome trafficking by pathogenic Rhodococcus equi depends on mycolic acid chain length

Rhodococcus equi is a close relative of Mycobacterium spp. and a facultative intracellular pathogen which arrests phagosome maturation in macrophages before the late endocytic stage. We have screened a transposon mutant library of R. equi for mutants with decreased capability to prevent phagolysosome formation. This screen yielded a mutant in the gene for β-ketoacyl-(acyl carrier protein)-synthase A (KasA), a key enzyme of the long-chain mycolic acid synthesizing FAS-II system. The longest kasA mutant mycolic acid chains were 10 carbon units shorter than those of wild-type bacteria. Coating of non-pathogenic E. coli with purified wild-type trehalose dimycolate reduced phagolysosome formation substantially which was not the case with shorter kasA mutant-derived trehalose dimycolate. The mutant was moderately attenuated in macrophages and in a mouse infection model, but was fully cytotoxic.Whereas loss of KasA is lethal in mycobacteria, R. equi kasA mutant multiplication in broth was normal proving that long-chain mycolic acid compounds are not necessarily required for cellular integrity and viability of the bacteria that typically produce them. This study demonstrates a central role of mycolic acid chain length in diversion of trafficking by R. equi.

Synthesis and properties of dodecyl trehaloside detergents for membrane protein studies

Sugar-based detergents, mostly derived from maltose or glucose, prevail in the extraction, solubilization, stabilization, and crystallization of membrane proteins. Inspired by the broad use of trehalose for protecting biological macromolecules and lipid bilayer structures, we synthesized new trehaloside detergents for potential applications in membrane protein research. We devised an efficient synthesis of four dodecyl trehalosides, each with the 12-carbon alkyl chain attached to different hydroxyl groups of trehalose, thus presenting a structurally diverse but related family of detergents. The detergent physical properties, including solubility, hydrophobicity, critical micelle concentration (CMC), and size of micelles, were evaluated and compared with the most popular maltoside analogue, β-D-dodecyl maltoside (DDM), which varied from each other due to distinct molecular geometries and possible polar group interactions in resulting micelles. Crystals of 2-dodecyl trehaloside (2-DDTre) were also obtained in methanol, and the crystal packing revealed multiple H-bonded interactions among adjacent trehalose groups. The few trehaloside detergents were tested for the solubilization and stabilization of the nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide receptor (ORL1) and MsbA, which belong to the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) and ATP-binding cassette transporter families, respectively. Our results demonstrated the utility of trehaloside detergents as membrane protein solubilization reagents with the optimal detergents being protein dependent. Continuing development and investigations of trehaloside detergents are attractive, given their interesting and unique chemical-physical properties and potential interactions with membrane lipids.

Synthesis of maradolipid

The first synthesis of maradolipid, a unique dissymmetrically 6,6'-di-O-acylated trehalose glycolipid isolated from C. elegans, is accomplished in five steps starting from trehalose in 45% overall yield. The short synthesis relies on dissymmetrization of trehalose core via regioselective acylation of a 2,3,4,2',3',4'-hexa-O-TMS trehalose 6,6'-diol derivative as a key step.

Air-stable supported membranes for single-cell cytometry on PDMS microchips

Protein-reinforced supported bilayer membranes (rSBMs) composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC), biotin-PE and Neutravidin were used to coat hybrid microchips composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and glass. Since the coatings required a freshly oxidized, hydrophilic substrate, a novel method to rapidly connect reservoirs using plasma oxidation was first developed and found to support up to 5.2 N cm(-2) (1.5 N) pull-off force. rSBMs were then assembled in the oxidized hydrophilic channels. The electroosmotic mobility (mu(eo)) of rSBM-coated channels was measured over a 3 h time to evaluate the stability of the coatings for microchip electrophoresis. rSBM-coated microchips with a simple cross-design had excellent properties for microchip separations, yielding efficiencies of up to 700,000 plates m(-1) for fluorescent dyes and peptides. The separation performance of rSBM and PC-coated channels was evaluated after repeatedly drying and rehydrating the channels. The separation efficiency of fluorescein on PC-coated devices decreased by 40% after one dehydration cycle and nearly 75% after 3 cycles. In contrast for rSBM-coated devices there was no significant change in the fluorescein efficiency until the third cycle (10% decreased efficiency). rSBM-coated channels were also markedly more stable when placed in a dehydrated state during long-term storage compared to PC-coated channels, and showed reduced chip failure and no reduction in performance for up to one month of dehydrated storage. Finally, rSBM-coated devices were used to perform single-cell cytometry. Microchips that had been dehydrated, stored two weeks, and rehydrated prior to use demonstrated similar performance to newly coated devices for the separation of fluorescein and carboxyfluorescein from single cells. Thus rSBM-coated devices were rugged withstanding electric fields, prolonged storage under dehydrated conditions, and biofouling by cellular constituents while maintaining excellent separation performance.