Formation of curved lipid membranes - Surface interactions and changes due to solution conditions.

Abstract

Lipid assembly into different morphologies, where the assembly structure and morphology are not only determined by the lipid composition but also by the external conditions. Here will discuss how surface interactions can control the curvature and the morphology of the formed structure. Fluorescence microscopy and neutron scattering techniques show that a continuous, fluid curved bilayer structure cand be formed by interaction of phospholipid vesicles with silicon nanowires [1] as well as tubular nanostructures formed by diphenylalanine (FF) [2]. An interesting observation is that the disassembly of supramolecular dipeptide, i.e. diphenylalanine (FF), induced by changing the buffer conditions, leads to translocation of the lipid bilayer on the surface to vesicles, tubular structures, or networks depending the lipid peptide ratio. This dynamic behaviour involving lipids and peptides can be important for processes in living cells, where e.g. tubule translocation is an important factor to construct the ER morphology.