Synthetic Membrane Shaper for Controlled Liposome Deformation

Nicola De Franceschi, Weria Pezeshkian, Alessio Fragasso, Bart M H Bruininks, Sean Tsai, Siewert J Marrink, Cees Dekker

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16 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Shape defines the structure and function of cellular membranes. In cell division, the cell membrane deforms into a "dumbbell" shape, while organelles such as the autophagosome exhibit "stomatocyte" shapes. Bottom-up in vitro reconstitution of protein machineries that stabilize or resolve the membrane necks in such deformed liposome structures is of considerable interest to characterize their function. Here we develop a DNA-nanotechnology-based approach that we call the synthetic membrane shaper (SMS), where cholesterol-linked DNA structures attach to the liposome membrane to reproducibly generate high yields of stomatocytes and dumbbells. In silico simulations confirm the shape-stabilizing role of the SMS. We show that the SMS is fully compatible with protein reconstitution by assembling bacterial divisome proteins (DynaminA, FtsZ:ZipA) at the catenoidal neck of these membrane structures. The SMS approach provides a general tool for studying protein binding to complex membrane geometries that will greatly benefit synthetic cell research.

Original languageEnglish
JournalACS Nano
Volume17
Pages (from-to)966-978
Number of pages13
ISSN1936-0851
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Nov 2022

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