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Axial Growth and Fusion of Liposome Regulated by Macromolecular Crowding and Confinement
journal contribution
posted on 2015-05-05, 00:00 authored by Yun Liu, Lin Zhu, Jingfa Yang, Jianbo Sun, Jiang Zhao, Dehai LiangThe endomembrane system, including
the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi
apparatus, lysosomes, and endosomes, is located in the crowded intracellular
environment. An understanding of the cellular structure and functions
requires knowledge of how macromolecular crowding and confinement
affect the activity of membrane and its proteins. Using negatively
charged liposome and the peptide K3L8K3 as a model system, we studied the aggregation behavior of liposome
in a matrix of polyacrylamide and hyaluronic acid. Without matrix,
the liposomes form spherical aggregates in the presence of K3L8K3. However, they orient in one dimension
and fuse into a tube up to 40 μm long in the matrix. The growth
of the tube is via end-to-end connection. This anisotropic growth
is mainly due to the macromolecular confinement provided by the polymer
network. The study of the interactions between liposome and peptide
in the crowded environment helps to reveal the mechanism of membrane-related
processes in vivo.