Membrane lateral mobility obstructed by polymer-tethered lipids studied at the single molecule level

Obstructed long-range lateral diffusion of phospholipids (TRITC-DHPE) and membrane proteins (bacteriorhodopsin) in a planar polymer-tethered 1-stearoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine bilayer is studied using wide-field single molecule fluorescence microscopy. The obstacles are well-controlled concentrations of hydrophobic lipid-mimicking dioctadecylamine moieties in the polymer-exposed monolayer of the model membrane. Diffusion of both types of tracer molecules is well described by a percolating system with different percolation thresholds for lipids and proteins. Data analysis using a free area model of obstructed lipid diffusion indicates that phospholipids and tethered lipids interact via hard-core repulsion. A comparison to Monte Carlo lattice calculations reveals that tethered lipids act as immobile obstacles, are randomly distributed, and do not self-assemble into large-scale aggregates for low to moderate tethering concentrations. A procedure is presented to identify anomalous subdiffusion from tracking data at a single time lag. From the analysis of the cumulative distribution function of the square displacements, it was found that TRITC-DHPE and W80i show normal diffusion at lower concentrations of tethered lipids and anomalous diffusion at higher ones. This study may help improve our understanding of how lipids and proteins in biomembranes may be obstructed by very small obstacles comprising only one or very few molecules.     

A model for membrane patchiness: lateral diffusion in the presence of barriers and vesicle traffic

Patches (lateral heterogeneities) of cell surface membrane proteins and lipids have been imaged by a number of different microscopy techniques. This patchiness has been taken as evidence for the organization of membranes into domains whose composition differs from the average for the entire membrane. However, the mechanism and specificity of patch formation are not understood. Here we show how vesicle traffic to and from a cell surface membrane can create patches of molecules of the size observed experimentally. Our computer model takes into account lateral diffusion, barriers to lateral diffusion, and vesicle traffic to and from the plasma membrane. Neither barriers nor vesicle traffic alone create and maintain patches. Only the combination of these produces a dynamic but persistent patchiness of membrane proteins and lipids.     

Formation of Raft-Like Assemblies within Clusters of Influenza Hemagglutinin Observed by MD Simulations

The association of hemagglutinin (HA) with lipid rafts in the plasma membrane is an important feature of the assembly process of influenza virus A. Lipid rafts are thought to be small, fluctuating patches of membrane enriched in saturated phospholipids, sphingolipids, cholesterol and certain types of protein. However, raft-associating transmembrane (TM) proteins generally partition into Ld domains in model membranes, which are enriched in unsaturated lipids and depleted in saturated lipids and cholesterol. The reason for this apparent disparity in behavior is unclear, but model membranes differ from the plasma membrane in a number of ways. In particular, the higher protein concentration in the plasma membrane may influence the partitioning of membrane proteins for rafts. To investigate the effect of high local protein concentration, we have conducted coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG MD) simulations of HA clusters in domain-forming bilayers. During the simulations, we observed a continuous increase in the proportion of raft-type lipids (saturated phospholipids and cholesterol) within the area of membrane spanned by the protein cluster. Lateral diffusion of unsaturated lipids was significantly attenuated within the cluster, while saturated lipids were relatively unaffected. On this basis, we suggest a possible explanation for the change in lipid distribution, namely that steric crowding by the slow-diffusing proteins increases the chemical potential for unsaturated lipids within the cluster region. We therefore suggest that a local aggregation of HA can be sufficient to drive association of the protein with raft-type lipids. This may also represent a general mechanism for the targeting of TM proteins to rafts in the plasma membrane, which is of functional importance in a wide range of cellular processes.     

Travelling lipid domains in a dynamic model for protein-induced pattern formation in biomembranes

Cell membranes are composed of a mixture of lipids. Many biological processes require the formation of spatial domains in the lipid distribution of the plasma membrane. We have developed a mathematical model that describes the dynamic spatial distribution of acidic lipids in response to the presence of GMC proteins and regulating enzymes. The model encompasses diffusion of lipids and GMC proteins, electrostatic attraction between acidic lipids and GMC proteins as well as the kinetics of membrane attachment/detachment of GMC proteins. If the lipid-protein interaction is strong enough, phase separation occurs in the membrane as a result of free energy minimization and protein/lipid domains are formed. The picture is changed if a constant activity of enzymes is included into the model. We chose the myristoyl-electrostatic switch as a regulatory module. It consists of a protein kinase C that phosphorylates and removes the GMC proteins from the membrane and a phosphatase that dephosphorylates the proteins and enables them to rebind to the membrane. For sufficiently high enzymatic activity, the phase separation is replaced by travelling domains of acidic lipids and proteins. The latter active process is typical for nonequilibrium systems. It allows for a faster restructuring and polarization of the membrane since it acts on a larger length scale than the passive phase separation. The travelling domains can be pinned by spatial gradients in the activity; thus the membrane is able to detect spatial clues and can adapt its polarity dynamically to changes in the environment.     

STED nanoscopy reveals molecular details of cholesterol- and cytoskeleton-modulated lipid interactions in living cells

Details about molecular membrane dynamics in living cells, such as lipid-protein interactions, are often hidden from the observer because of the limited spatial resolution of conventional far-field optical microscopy. The superior spatial resolution of stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy can provide new insights into this process. The application of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) in focal spots continuously tuned down to 30 nm in diameter distinguishes between free and anomalous molecular diffusion due to, for example, transient binding of lipids to other membrane constituents, such as lipids and proteins. We compared STED-FCS data recorded on various fluorescent lipid analogs in the plasma membrane of living mammalian cells. Our results demonstrate details about the observed transient formation of molecular complexes. The diffusion characteristics of phosphoglycerolipids without hydroxyl-containing headgroups revealed weak interactions. The strongest interactions were observed with sphingolipid analogs, which showed cholesterol-assisted and cytoskeleton-dependent binding. The hydroxyl-containing headgroup of gangliosides, galactosylceramide, and phosphoinositol assisted binding, but in a much less cholesterol- and cytoskeleton-dependent manner. The observed anomalous diffusion indicates lipid-specific transient hydrogen bonding to other membrane molecules, such as proteins, and points to a distinct connectivity of the various lipids to other membrane constituents. This strong interaction is different from that responsible for forming cholesterol-dependent, liquid-ordered domains in model membranes.     

Dependence of plastoquinol diffusion on the shape, size, and density of integral thylakoid proteins

The diffusion of plastoquinol in the chloroplast thylakoid membrane is modelled using Monte Carlo techniques. The integral proteins are seen as obstacles to diffusion, and features of percolation theory emerge. Thus, the diffusion coefficient diminishes with increasing distance and there is a critical threshold of protein concentration, above which the long-range diffusion coefficient is zero. The area occupied by proteins in vivo is assessed and appears to be around this threshold, as determined from calculations assuming randomly distributed noninteracting proteins. Slight changes in the protein arrangement lead to pronounced changes in diffusion behaviour under such conditions. Mobility of the proteins increases the protein occupancy threshold, while boundary lipids impermeable to PQ diffusion decrease it. Further, the obstruction of plastoquinone/plastoquinol binding sites in a random arrangement is evaluated.     

Lateral diffusion in an archipelago. The effect of mobile obstacles.

Lateral diffusion of mobile proteins and lipids (tracers) in a membrane is hindered by the presence of proteins (obstacles) in the membrane. If the obstacles are immobile, their effect may be described by percolation theory, which states that the long-range diffusion constant of the tracers goes to zero when the area fraction of obstacles is greater than the percolation threshold. If the obstacles are themselves mobile, the diffusion constant of the tracers depends on the area fraction of obstacles and the relative jump rate of tracers and obstacles. This paper presents Monte Carlo calculations of diffusion constants on square and triangular lattices as a function of the concentration of obstacles and the relative jump rate. The diffusion constant for particles of various sizes is also obtained. Calculated values of the concentration-dependent diffusion constant are compared with observed values for gramicidin and bacteriorhodopsin. The effect of the proteins as inert obstacles is significant, but other factors, such as protein-protein interactions and perturbation of lipid viscosity by proteins, are of comparable importance. Potential applications include the diffusion of proteins at high concentrations (such as rhodopsin in rod outer segments), the modulation of diffusion by release of membrane proteins from cytoskeletal attachment, and the diffusion of mobile redox carriers in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and endoplasmic reticulum.     

A barrier to lateral diffusion in the cleavage furrow of dividing mammalian cells

Barriers to diffusion of proteins and lipids play an important role in generating functionally specialized regions of the plasma membrane. Such barriers have been reported at the base of axons, at the bud neck in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as at the tight junctions of epithelia. How diffusion barriers are formed and how they effect behavior of both inner and outer leaflets of the bilayer are not fully understood. Here, we provide evidence for a cortical barrier to diffusion within the cleavage furrow of mammalian cells. Photobleaching-based assays were used to measure diffusion of three membrane proteins with differing topologies and putative lipid raft association, as well as the lipid analog dialkylindocarbocyanine (DiI C18, ), across the cleavage furrow. There was a block in diffusion of proteins with a cytosolic domain, but not of proteins anchored in the outer leaflet of the PM or of DiI. Diffusion of lipid raft proteins in the inner and outer leaflets of the membrane was not directly coupled. The distribution of Septin proteins, as opposed to cortical actin, was consistent with a functional role in limiting diffusion.     

A human IgM signals axon outgrowth: coupling lipid raft to microtubules

Mouse and human IgMs support neurite extension from primary cerebellar granule neurons. In this study using primary hippocampal and cortical neurons, we demonstrate that a recombinant human IgM, rHIgM12, promotes axon outgrowth by coupling membrane domains (lipid rafts) to microtubules. rHIgM12 binds to the surface of neuron and induces clustering of cholesterol and ganglioside GM1. After cell binding and membrane fractionation, rHIgM12 gets segregated into two pools, one associated with lipid raft fractions and the other with the detergent-insoluble cytoskeleton-containing pellet. Membrane-bound rHIgM12 co-localized with microtubules and co-immuno precipitated with β3-tubulin. rHIgM12-membrane interaction also enhanced the tyrosination of α-tubulin indicating a stabilization of new neurites. When presented as a substrate, rHIgM12 induced axon outgrowth from primary neurons. We now demonstrate that a recombinant human mAb can induce signals in neurons that regulate membrane lipids and microtubule dynamics required for axon extension. We propose that the pentameric structure of the IgM is critical to cross-link membrane lipids and proteins resulting in signaling cascades.     

Molecular architecture of the thylakoid membrane: lipid diffusion space for plastoquinone

We have determined the stoichiometric composition of membrane components (lipids and proteins) in spinach thylakoids and have derived the molecular area occupied by these components. From this analysis, the lipid phase diffusion space, the fraction of lipids located in the first protein solvation shell (boundary lipids), and the plastoquinone (PQ) concentration are derived. On the basis of these stoichiometric data, we have analyzed the motion of PQ between photosystem (PS) II and cytochrome (cyt.) bf complexes in this highly protein obstructed membrane (protein area about 70%) using percolation theory. This analysis reveals an inefficient diffusion process. We propose that distinct structural features of the thylakoid membrane (grana formation, microdomains) could help to minimize these inefficiencies and ensure a non-rate limiting PQ diffusion process. A large amount of published evidence supports the idea that higher protein associations exist, especially in grana thylakoids. From the quantification of the boundary lipid fraction (about 60%), we conclude that protein complexes involved in these associations should be spaced by lipids. Lipid-spaced protein aggregations in thylakoids are qualitatively different to previously characterized associations (multisubunit complexes, supercomplexes). We derive a hierarchy of protein and lipid interactions in the thylakoid membrane.     

Simplified Equation to Extract Diffusion Coefficients from Confocal FRAP Data

Quantitative measurements of diffusion can provide important information about how proteins and lipids interact with their environment within the cell and the effective size of the diffusing species. Confocal fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) is one of the most widely accessible approaches to measure protein and lipid diffusion in living cells. However, straightforward approaches to quantify confocal FRAP measurements in terms of absolute diffusion coefficients are currently lacking. Here, we report a simplified equation that can be used to extract diffusion coefficients from confocal FRAP data using the half time of recovery and effective bleach radius for a circular bleach region, and validate this equation for a series of fluorescently labeled soluble and membrane‐bound proteins and lipids. We show that using this approach, diffusion coefficients ranging over three orders of magnitude can be obtained from confocal FRAP measurements performed under standard imaging conditions, highlighting its broad applicability.     

Lipid dynamics in the plasma membrane of ram and bull spermatozoa after washing and exposure to macromolecules BSA and PVP.

Seminal plasma proteins and macromolecules in the external medium have a major influence on the functionality of sperm plasma membranes. In this investigation we have examined their effects on lipid diffusion in the surface membrane of ram and bull spermatozoa as measured by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Results show that progressive removal of seminal plasma from ram spermatozoa by repeated centrifugation and resuspension in media +/- 4% bovine serum albumin (BSA) or 0.4% polyvinlypyrrolidone (PVP) causes a reduction in lipid diffusion in all regions of the membrane. By contrast, bull sperm membranes respond with an increase in diffusion in all regions. Repeated washing of bull spermatozoa whose membranes were previously immobile (i.e., showed no recovery after FRAP) restored lipid diffusion suggesting an inhibitory effect of seminal plasma proteins. Further analysis by atomic force microscopy revealed a close association between BSA and the plasma membrane. It is concluded that diffusion of lipids in the plasma membrane of ejaculated ram and bull spermatozoa is influenced by seminal plasma proteins and the composition of the suspending medium. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 59:306-313, 2001.     

Tracking microdomain dynamics in cell membranes

Studies of the diffusion of proteins and lipids in the plasma membrane of cells have long pointed to the presence of membrane domains. A major challenge in the field of membrane biology has been to characterize the various cellular structures and mechanisms that impede free diffusion in cell membranes and determine the consequences that membrane compartmentalization has on cellular biology. In this review, we will provide a brief summary of the classes of domains that have been characterized to date, focusing on recent efforts to identify the properties of lipid rafts in cells through measurements of protein and lipid diffusion.     

The lateral diffusion of lipid probes in the surface membrane of Schistosoma mansoni

The technique of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching was used to measure the lateral diffusion of fluorescent lipid analogues in the surface membrane of Schistosoma mansoni. Our data reveal that although some lipids could diffuse freely others exhibited restricted lateral diffusion. Quenching of lipid fluorescence by a non-permeant quencher, trypan blue, showed that there was an asymmetric distribution of lipids across the double bilayer of mature parasites. Those lipids that diffused freely were found to reside mainly in the external monolayer of the outer membrane whereas lipids with restricted lateral diffusion were located mainly in one or more of the monolayers beneath the external monolayer. Formation of surface membrane blebs allowed us to measure the lateral diffusion of lipids in the membrane without the influence of underlying cytoskeletal structures. The restricted diffusion found on the normal surface membrane of mature parasites was found to be released in membrane blebs. Quenching of fluorescent lipids on blebs indicated that all probes were present almost entirely in the external monolayer. Juvenile worms exhibited lower lateral diffusion coefficients than mature parasites: in addition, the lipids partitioned into the external monolayer. The results are discussed in terms of membrane organization, cytoskeletal contacts, and biological significance.     

Developmental changes in the lateral diffusion of Leydig cell membranes measured by the FRAP method

A simple method for isolation and fluorescence labelling of Leydig cells (L-cells) from rat testes was developed. Lateral diffusion coefficients of both lipid and protein membrane fluorescent probes were measured by the method of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Age-dependent changes in diffusibility of membrane lipids and proteins were discovered.     

PEG molecular weight and lateral diffusion of PEG-ylated lipids in magnetically aligned bicelles

Lateral diffusion coefficients of PEG-ylated lipids with three different molecular weight PEG groups (1000, 2000 and 5000) were measured in magnetically-aligned bicelles using the stimulated echo (STE) pulsed field gradient (PEG) (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method. At concentrations below the PEG "mushroom-to-brush" transition, all three PEG-ylated lipids exhibited unrestricted lateral diffusion, with lateral diffusion coefficients comparable to those of corresponding non-PEG-ylated lipids and independent of PEG molecular weight. At concentrations above this transition, lateral diffusion slowed progressively with increasing concentration of PEG-ylated lipid as a result of surface crowding. As well, the lateral diffusion coefficients exhibited a pronounced decrease with increasing PEG group molecular weight and a diffusion-time dependence indicative of obstructed diffusion. We conclude that, while lateral diffusion of PEG-ylated lipids within lipid bilayers is determined primarily by the hydrophobic anchoring group, when crowding at the lipid bilayer surface becomes significant, the size of the extra-membranous domain, in this case the PEG group, can influence lateral diffusion, leading to decreased diffusivity with increasing size and producing obstructed diffusion at high crowding. These findings imply that similar considerations will pertain to lateral diffusion of membrane proteins with large extra-membranous domains.     

On the principles of functional ordering in biological membranes

Integrating the available data on lipid-protein interactions and ordering in lipid mixtures allows to emanate a refined model for the dynamic organization of biomembranes. An important difference to the fluid mosaic model is that a high degree of spatiotemporal order should prevail also in liquid crystalline, "fluid" membranes and membrane domains. The interactions responsible for ordering the membrane lipids and proteins are hydrophobicity, coulombic forces, van der Waals dispersion, hydrogen bonding, hydration forces and steric elastic strain. Specific lipid-lipid and lipid-protein interactions result in a precisely controlled yet highly dynamic architecture of the membrane components, as well as in its selective modulation by the cell and its environment. Different modes of organization of the compositionally and functionally differentiated domains would correspond to different functional states of the membrane. Major regulators of membrane architecture are proposed to be membrane potential controlled by ion channels, intracellular Ca2+, pH, changes in lipid composition due to the action of phospholipase, cell-cell coupling, as well as coupling of the membrane with the cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix. Membrane architecture is additionally modulated due to the membrane association of ions, lipo- and amphiphilic hormones, metabolites, drugs, lipid-binding peptide hormones and amphitropic proteins. Intermolecular associations in the membrane and in the membrane-cytoskeleton interface are further selectively controlled by specific phosphorylation and dephosphorylation cascades involving both proteins and lipids, and regulated by the extracellular matrix and the binding of growth factors and hormones to their specific receptor tyrosine kinases. A class of proteins coined architectins is proposed, as a notable example the pp60src kinase. The functional role of architectins would be in causing specific changes in the cytoskeleton-membrane interface, leading to specific configurational changes both in the membrane and cytoskeleton architecture and corresponding to (a) distinct metabolic/differentiation states of the cell, and (b) the formation and maintenance of proper three dimensional membrane structures such as neurites and pseudopods.     

Phospholipids undergo hop diffusion in compartmentalized cell membrane

The diffusion rate of lipids in the cell membrane is reduced by a factor of 5-100 from that in artificial bilayers. This slowing mechanism has puzzled cell biologists for the last 25 yr. Here we address this issue by studying the movement of unsaturated phospholipids in rat kidney fibroblasts at the single molecule level at the temporal resolution of 25 micros. The cell membrane was found to be compartmentalized: phospholipids are confined within 230-nm-diameter (phi) compartments for 11 ms on average before hopping to adjacent compartments. These 230-nm compartments exist within greater 750-nm-phi compartments where these phospholipids are confined for 0.33 s on average. The diffusion rate within 230-nm compartments is 5.4 microm2/s, which is nearly as fast as that in large unilamellar vesicles, indicating that the diffusion in the cell membrane is reduced not because diffusion per se is slow, but because the cell membrane is compartmentalized with regard to lateral diffusion of phospholipids. Such compartmentalization depends on the actin-based membrane skeleton, but not on the extracellular matrix, extracellular domains of membrane proteins, or cholesterol-enriched rafts. We propose that various transmembrane proteins anchored to the actin-based membrane skeleton meshwork act as rows of pickets that temporarily confine phospholipids.