title: Formation of giant protein vesicles by a lipid cosolvent method.
abstract: This paper describes a method to create giant protein vesicles (GPVs) of ≥10 μm by solvent-driven fusion of large vesicles (0.1-0.2 μm) with reconstituted membrane proteins. We found that formation of GPVs proceeded from rotational mixing of protein-reconstituted large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) with a lipid-containing solvent phase. We made GPVs by using n-decane and squalene as solvents, and applied generalized polarization (GP) imaging to monitor the polarity around the protein transmembrane region of aquaporins labeled with the polarity-sensitive probe Badan. Specifically, we created GPVs of spinach SoPIP2;1 and E. coli AqpZ aquaporins. Our findings show that hydrophobic interactions within the bilayer of formed GPVs are influenced not only by the solvent partitioning propensity, but also by lipid composition and membrane protein isoform.
authors: Research Department, Aquaporin A/S, Ole Maaloes Vej 3, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. jsh@aquaporin.dk
authors: Jesper S
authors: JS
authors: Hansen
authors: Ardcharaporn
authors: A
authors: Vararattanavech
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Vissing
authors: Jaume
authors: J
authors: Torres
authors: Jenny
authors: J
authors: Emnéus
authors: Claus
authors: C
authors: Hélix-Nielsen
mesh_terms: D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D011506:Proteins; D012997:Solvents