UPMC University Paris 06

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Biology

Reconstitution of a Transmembrane Protein, the Voltage-gated Ion Channel, KvAP, into Giant Unilamellar Vesicles for Microscopy and Patch Clamp Studies

Matthias Garten¹, Sophie Aimon², Patricia Bassereau¹, Gilman E. S. Toombes³

¹Institut Curie, Centre de Recherche, CNRS, UMR 168, PhysicoChimie Curie, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, ²Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, University of California, San Diego, ³Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Section, National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Health

The reconstitution of the transmembrane protein, KvAP, into giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) is demonstrated for two dehydration-rehydration methods — electroformation, and gel-assisted swelling. In both methods, small unilamellar vesicles containing the protein are fused together to form GUVs that can then be studied by fluorescence microscopy and patch-clamp electrophysiology.

Biology

Pulling Membrane Nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

Coline Prévost^*1,2,3, Feng-Ching Tsai^*1,4, Patricia Bassereau^1,4, Mijo Simunovic^1,5

¹Laboratoire Physico Chimie Curie, Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR168, ²Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, ³Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, ⁴Sorbonne Universités, UPMC University Paris 06, ⁵Center for Studies in Physics and Biology, The Rockefeller University

Many proteins in the cell sense and induce membrane curvature. We describe a method to pull membrane nanotubes from lipid vesicles to study the interaction of proteins or any curvature-active molecule with curved membranes in vitro.