Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 109, Issue 25, Pages E1609-E1618Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119442109
Keywords
curvature energy; hydration force; lipid bilayer
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Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
- Gottingen Graduate School for Neuroscience, Biophysics and Molecular Bioscience (GGNB)
- [Sonderforschungsbereich 803]
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We have used X-ray diffraction on the rhombohedral phospholipid phase to reconstruct stalk structures in different pure lipids and lipid mixtures with unprecedented resolution, enabling a quantitative analysis of geometry, as well as curvature and hydration energies. Electron density isosurfaces are used to study shape and curvature properties of the bent lipid monolayers. We observe that the stalk structure is highly universal in different lipid systems. The associated curvatures change in a subtle, but systematic fashion upon changes in lipid composition. In addition, we have studied the hydration interaction prior to the transition from the lamellar to the stalk phase. The results indicate that facilitating dehydration is the key to promote stalk formation, which becomes favorable at an approximately constant interbilayer separation of 9.0 +/- 0.5 angstrom for the investigated lipid compositions.
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