Lipid tail protrusions mediate the insertion of nanoparticles into model cell membranes

Van Lehn, R.C.; Ricci, M.; Silva, P.H.J.; Andreozzi, P.; Reguera, J.; Voïtchovsky, K.; Stellacci, F.; Alexander-Katz, A.

Abstract

Recent work has demonstrated that charged ​gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) protected by an amphiphilic organic monolayer can spontaneously insert into the core of lipid bilayers to minimize the exposure of hydrophobic surface area to water. However, the kinetic pathway to reach the thermodynamically stable transmembrane configuration is unknown. Here, we use unbiased atomistic simulations to show the pathway by which AuNPs spontaneously insert into bilayers and confirm the results experimentally on supported lipid bilayers. The critical step during this process is hydrophobic–hydrophobic contact between the core of the bilayer and the monolayer of the AuNP that requires the stochastic protrusion of an aliphatic lipid tail into solution. This last phenomenon is enhanced in the presence of high bilayer curvature and closely resembles the putative pre-stalk transition state for vesicle fusion. To the best of our knowledge, this work provides the first demonstration of vesicle fusion-like behaviour in an amphiphilic nanoparticle system.

Citation

Van Lehn, R., Ricci, M., Silva, P., Andreozzi, P., Reguera, J., Voïtchovsky, K., …Alexander-Katz, A. (2014). Lipid tail protrusions mediate the insertion of nanoparticles into model cell membranes. Nature Communications, 5, Article 4482. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5482

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 23, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Jul 21, 2014
• Publication Date: Jul 21, 2014
• Deposit Date: Aug 15, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 11, 2014
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Article Number: 4482
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5482
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1455434