la8b03241_si_002.pdf (2.03 MB)
Light-Controlled Lipid Interaction and Membrane Organization in Photolipid Bilayer Vesicles
journal contribution
posted on 2018-10-10, 00:00 authored by Patrick Urban, Stefanie D. Pritzl, David B. Konrad, James A. Frank, Carla Pernpeintner, Christian R. Roeske, Dirk Trauner, Theobald LohmüllerControlling lateral
interactions between lipid molecules in a bilayer
membrane to guide membrane organization and domain formation is a
key factor for studying and emulating membrane functionality in synthetic
biological systems. Here, we demonstrate an approach to reversibly
control lipid organization, domain formation, and membrane stiffness
of phospholipid bilayer membranes using the photoswitchable phospholipid
azo-PC. azo-PC contains an azobenzene group
in the sn2 acyl chain that undergoes reversible photoisomerization on illumination
with UV-A and visible light. We demonstrate that the concentration
of the photolipid molecules and also the assembly and disassembly
of photolipids into lipid domains can be monitored by UV–vis
spectroscopy because of a blue shift induced by photolipid aggregation.