A Nanobar-Supported Lipid Bilayer System for the Study of Membrane Curvature Sensing Proteins in vitro

Summary

Here, a nanobar-supported lipid bilayer system is developed to provide a synthetic membrane with a defined curvature that enables the characterization of proteins with curvature sensing ability in vitro.

Abstract

Membrane curvature plays important roles in various essential processes of cells, such as cell migration, cell division, and vesicle trafficking. It is not only passively generated by cellular activities, but also actively regulates protein interactions and is involved in many intracellular signaling. Thus, it is of great value to examine the role of membrane curvature in regulating the distribution and dynamics of proteins and lipids. Recently, many techniques have been developed to study the relationship between the curved membrane and protein in vitro. Compared to traditional techniques, the newly developed nanobar-supported lipid bilayer (SLB) offers both high-throughput and better accuracy in membrane curvature generation by forming a continuous lipid bilayer on patterned arrays of nanobars with a pre-defined membrane curvature and local flat control. Both the lipid fluidity and protein sensitivity to curved membranes can be quantitatively characterized using fluorescence microscopy imaging. Here, a detailed procedure on how to form a SLB on fabricated glass surfaces containing nanobar arrays and the characterization of curvature-sensitive proteins on such SLB are introduced. In addition, protocols for nanochip reusing and image processing are covered. Beyond the nanobar-SLB, this protocol is readily applicable to all types of nanostructured glass chips for curvature sensing studies.

Introduction

Membrane curvature is a critical physical parameter of a cell that occurs in a variety of cellular processes such as morphogenesis, cell division, and cell migration¹. It is widely recognized now that membrane curvature is beyond a simple result of cellular events; instead, it has emerged as an effective regulator of protein interactions and intracellular signaling. For example, several proteins involved in clathrin-mediated endocytosis were found to preferentially bind to the curved membrane, resulting in the formation of a hotspot for endocytosis². There are many different causes of membrane deformation such as membran....

Protocol

1. Cleaning of nanochip

1. Place the nanochip in a 10 mL beaker with the patterned side facing up.
   NOTE: This quartz nanochip has been fabricated via electron beam lithography as described before²¹. The geometry and arrangement of the nanostructure on the chip can be custom designed. The sizes of the gradient nanobars used here are 2000 nm in length, 600 nm in height, and 100 to 1000 nm in width (100 nm step-set).
2. Carefully add 1 mL of 98% sulfur.......

Discussion

The nanobar-SLB system described here offers a unique combination of the advantages in several existing in vitro assays. It efficiently reveals the preferential binding of proteins to highly curved membranes as the liposome floatation or sedimentation assay but requires much fewer samples and offers more accurately defined curvature on individual nanobars^8,29. It also offers a wide range of precisely controlled curvature for simultaneous comparison as th.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Anhydrous Ethanol	Sigma-Aldrich	100983
Aluminum foil	Diamond	RN0879999FU
Amber Vial	Sigma-Aldrich	27115-U
Brain PS: L-α-phosphatidylserine (Brain, Porcine) (sodium salt)	Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc.	840032
10 mL Beaker	Schott-Duran	SCOT211060804
50 mL Beaker	Schott-Duran	SCOT211061706
1000 mL Beaker	Schott-Duran	SCOT211065408	The second container
Chloroform	Sigma-Aldrich	V800117
Cotton buds	Watsons
18:1 DGS-NTA(Ni): 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-[(N-(5-amino-1-carboxypentyl)iminodiacetic acid)succinyl] (nickel salt)	Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc.	790404
Egg PC: L-α-phosphatidylcholine (Egg, Chicken)	Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc.	840051
F-BAR	Protein Production Plaftorm, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore		Proteins and peptide
F-BAR+IDR	Protein Production Plaftorm, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore		Proteins and peptide
GFP	Protein Production Plaftorm, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore		Proteins and peptide
GFP-His	Protein Production Plaftorm, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore		Proteins and peptide
GraphPad Prism	GraphPad	V9.0.0
Hydrogen Peroxide, 30% (Certified ACS)	Thermo Scientific	H325-500
IDR from human FBP17	Sangon Biotech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
ImageJ	National Institutes of Health	1.50d
Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy	Zeiss	LSM 800 with Airyscan	100x (N.A.1.4) oil objective.
Methanol	Fisher scientific	10010240
Mini-extuder	Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc.	610000-1EA
1.5 mL Microtubes	Greiner	616201
MATLAB	Mathworks	R2018b
Nuclepore Hydrophilic Membrane,0.1 μm	Whatman	800309
Phosphate Bufferen Saline (PBS)	Life Technologies Holdings Pte Ltd.	70013
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Base	Dow Corning Corporation	SYLGARD 184
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Crosslinker	Dow Corning Corporation	SYLGARD 184
Plasma Cleaner	HARRICK PLASMA	PDC-002-HP
Quartz Nanochip	Donghai County Alfa Quartz Products CO., LTD
Sodium Hydroxide	Sigma-Aldrich	795429
Sulfuric acid	Sigma-Aldrich	258105
Texas Red DHPE: Texas Red 1,2-Dihexadecanoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphoethanolamine, Triethylammonium Salt	Life Technologies Holdings Pte Ltd.	T1395MP
Tweezer	Gooi	PDC-002-HP
Ultrasonic Cleaners	Elma	D-78224
Voterx	Scientific Industries	G560E
Vacuum Desiccator	NUCERITE	5312
Water Bath	Julabo	TW8