Dissipative Microgravimetry to Study the Binding Dynamics of the Phospholipid Binding Protein Annexin A2 to Solid-supported Lipid Bilayers Using a Quartz Resonator

The dissipative quartz crystal microbalance technique is a simple and label-free approach to measure simultaneously the mass uptake and viscoelastic properties of the absorbed/immobilized mass on sensor surfaces, allowing the measurements of the interaction of proteins with solid-supported surfaces, such as lipid bilayers, in real-time and with a high sensitivity. Annexins are a highly conserved group of phospholipid-binding proteins that interact reversibly with the negatively charged headgroups via the coordination of calcium ions. Here, we describe a protocol that was employed to quantitatively analyze the binding of annexin A2 (AnxA2) to planar lipid bilayers prepared on the surface of a quartz sensor. This protocol is optimized to obtain robust and reproducible data and includes a detailed step-by-step description. The method can be applied to other membrane-binding proteins and bilayer compositions.