S-Layer Stabilized Solid Supported Lipid Bilayers

• Published in: Journal of structural biology 1997-07, Vol.119 (2), p.123-128
• Main Authors: Wetzer, B., Pum, D., Sleytr, U.B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1047-8477; 1095-8657
• DOI: 10.1006/jsbi.1997.3867

This work describes composite structures composed of lipid bilayer or tetraetherlipid monolayer films attached to solid supports with associated crystalline bacterial cell surface layers (S-layers). The bilayer system was established by making use of the strong chemisorption of a first monolayer of thiolipids (1-octadecanethiol or 1,2-dimyristoylsn-glycero-3-phosphothioethanol) on gold and attaching a second monolayer of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-3-phosphatidylethanolamine by the Langmuir Schaefer technique. The tetraetherlipid monolayer was composed of Glycerol-dialkyl-nonitol tetraetherlipid (GDNT). The monolayer of GDNT exhibits the thickness of a bilayer with hydrophilic headgroups on both sides and a hydrophobic inner part. Isolated S-layer protein fromBacillus sphaericusCCM2177, which was injected into the subphase of an LB-trough, recrystallized into a coherent monolayer at the solid supported phospholipid bilayer and at the tetraetherlipid monolayer. The composite lipid/S-layer structures were stable enough to allow lifting from the air–water interface, rinsing in water, and transfer into a scanning force microscope.