Spontaneous shape transformation of free-floating lipid membrane nanotubesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c3sm50429h

Freely floating lipid nanotubes, up to several hundred micrometers long, were found to spontaneously contract in length, and eventually transform into stomatocyte-like structures. This transformation was largely driven by the high curvature energy. The nanotubes equilibrate their membrane leaflet ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stepanyants, Natalia, Zhang, Haijiang, Lobovkina, Tatsiana, Dommersnes, Paul, Jeffries, Gavin D. M, Jesorka, Aldo, Orwar, Owe
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Freely floating lipid nanotubes, up to several hundred micrometers long, were found to spontaneously contract in length, and eventually transform into stomatocyte-like structures. This transformation was largely driven by the high curvature energy. The nanotubes equilibrate their membrane leaflet areas, by folding into tubular stomatocyte-like structures without any significant volume change, but require a substantial interleaflet lipid transport rate, estimated to be as high as 0.010.001 s 1 . The rate of transformation was dependent on the fluorescent membrane stain used, and nanotubes labelled with a water-soluble styryl dye, FM1-43, transformed approximately five-fold faster than nanotubes labelled with the phospholipid conjugated dye Texas Red DHPE. Nanotubes formed from phospholipid membranes, evolve through a series of membrane folds forming stomatocyte-like pockets, when suspended freely in solution.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/c3sm50429h