title: Abscisic acid enhances aggregation and fusion of phospholipid vesicles.
abstract: The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is shown to enhance the aggregation and fusion of small unilamellar lipid vesicles composed of 80 mol% dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and 20 mol% dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPE). Aggregation and fusion did not occur with single component (100 mol%) DMPC vesicles. Fusion was followed by two fundamentally different techniques, fluorescence resonance energy transfer which monitors intermixing of bilayers and ANTS-DPX which monitors intermixing of the sequestered aqueous interiors. It is suggested that a previously unreported role of ABA may be as a membrane fusagen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stillwell
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brengle
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wassall
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid; D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; D007700:Kinetics; D008081:Liposomes; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; D008081:Liposomes; D000040:Abscisic Acid