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Bhattacharya A, Falk ID, Moss FR, Weiss TM, Tran KN, Burns NZ, Boxer SG. Structure-function relationships in pure archaeal bipolar tetraether lipids. Chem Sci 2024:d4sc03788j. [PMID: 39149219 PMCID: PMC11320390 DOI: 10.1039/d4sc03788j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2024] [Accepted: 08/05/2024] [Indexed: 08/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Archaeal bipolar tetraether lipids (BTLs) are among the most unusual lipids occurring in nature because of their presumed ability to span the entire membrane to form a monolayer structure. It is believed that because of their unique structural organization and chemical stability, BTLs offer extraordinary adaptation to archaea to thrive in the most extreme milieus. BTLs have also received considerable attention for development of novel membrane-based materials. Despite their fundamental biological significance and biotechnological interests, prior studies on pure BTLs are limited because of the difficulty to extract them in pure form from natural sources or to synthesize them chemically. Here we have utilized chemical synthesis to enable in-depth biophysical investigations on a series of chemically pure glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids. The lipids self-assemble to form membrane-bound vesicles encapsulating polar molecules in aqueous media, and reconstitute a functional integral membrane protein. Structural properties of the membranes were characterized via small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). SAXS studies on bulk aqueous dispersions of GDGT lipids over 10-90 °C revealed lamellar and non-lamellar phases and their transitions. Next we asked whether vesicles overwhelmingly composed of a single GDGT species can undergo fusion as it is difficult to conceptualize such behavior with the assumption that such membranes have a monolayer structure. Interestingly, we observed that GDGT vesicles undergo fusion with influenza virus with lipid mixing kinetics comparable to that with vesicles composed of monopolar phospholipids. Our results suggest that GDGT membranes may consist of regions with a bilayer structure or form bilayer structures transiently which facilitate fusion and thus offer insight into how archaea may perform important physiological functions that require dynamical membrane behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahanjit Bhattacharya
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
- Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Isaac D Falk
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Frank R Moss
- Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Menlo Park CA 94025 USA
| | - Thomas M Weiss
- Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Menlo Park CA 94025 USA
| | - Khoi N Tran
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Noah Z Burns
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Steven G Boxer
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
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Shih KC, Leriche G, Liu CH, He J, John VT, Fang J, Barker JG, Nagao M, Yang L, Yang J, Nieh MP. Antivesiculation and Complete Unbinding of Tail-Tethered Lipids. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2024; 40:1688-1697. [PMID: 38186288 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c02663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
We report the effect of tail-tethering on vesiculation and complete unbinding of bilayered membranes. Amphiphilic molecules of a bolalipid, resembling the tail-tethered molecular structure of archaeal lipids, with two identical zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine headgroups self-assemble into a large flat lamellar membrane, in contrast to the multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) observed in its counterpart, monopolar nontethered zwitterionic lipids. The antivesiculation is confirmed by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cyro-TEM). With the net charge of zero and higher bending rigidity of the membrane (confirmed by neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy), the current membrane theory would predict that membranes should stack with each other (aka "bind") due to dominant van der Waals attraction, while the outcome of the nonstacking ("unbinding") membrane suggests that the theory needs to include entropic contribution for the nonvesicular structures. This report pioneers an understanding of how the tail-tethering of amphiphiles affects the structure, enabling better control over the final nanoscale morphology.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Geoffray Leriche
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | | | - Jibao He
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, United States
| | - Vijay T John
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, United States
| | | | - John G Barker
- NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - Michihiro Nagao
- NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Lin Yang
- National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States
| | - Jerry Yang
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
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Membrane properties of amacrocyclic tetraether bisphosphatidylcholine lipid: Effect of a single membrane-spanning polymethylene cross-linkage between two head groups of ditetradecylphosphatidylcholine membrane. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2021; 1863:183569. [PMID: 33549531 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2021.183569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Revised: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The plasma membranes of archaea are abundant in macrocyclic tetraether lipids that contain a single or double long transmembrane hydrocarbon chains connecting the two glycerol backbones at both ends. In this study, a novel amacrocyclic bisphosphatidylcholine lipid bearing a single membrane-spanning octacosamethylene chain, 1,1'-O-octacosamethylene-2,2'-di-O-tetradecyl-bis-(sn-glycero)-3,3'-diphosphocholine (AC-(di-O-C14PC)2), was synthesized to elucidate effects of the interlayer cross-linkage on membrane properties based on comparison with its corresponding diether phosphatidylcholine, 1,2-di-O-tetradecyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DTPC), that forms bilayer membrane. Several physicochemical techniques demonstrated that while AC-(di-O-C14PC)2 monolayer, which adopts a particularly high-ordered structure in the gel phase, shows remarkably high thermotropic transition temperature compared to DTPC bilayer, the fluidity of both phospholipids above the transition temperature is comparable. Nonetheless, the fluorescent dye leakage from inside the AC-(di-O-C14PC)2 vesicles in the fluid phase is highly suppressed. The origin of the membrane properties characteristic of AC-(di-O-C14PC)2 monolayer is discussed in terms of the single long transmembrane hydrophobic linkage and the diffusional motion of the lipid molecules.
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