COLL 137 |
| Raghuveer Parthasarathy, Bryan L. Jackson, Tom J. Lowery, Amy P. Wong, and Jay T. Groves. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 |
| Lipid bilayers form the structural basis of cell membranes, as well as the environment in which membrane biochemical events occur. The emerging study of interactions between reconstituted lipid bilayers, therefore, promises simple experimental models for intercellular interactions. Even in bilayer-bilayer junctions composed only of simple lipids, however, many aspects of structure formation remain poorly understood. For example, non-uniform adhesion can result, taking the form of "blisters" of separation between the adhering membranes. We explore the formation and stabilization of these blisters, making use of recently developed fluorescence resonance energy transfer and interference microscopy techniques that allow nanometer-scale topographic imaging. We observe that blister formation is triggered by rapid adhesion often induced by osmotic shock, and is not contingent on electrostatic reorganization. We propose a hydrodynamic model for blister stability, in which the non-equilibrium blister shapes are prohibited from relaxing due to the impedance of viscous water flow. |
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Nanoscale Imaging of Biological Systems
Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry |