title: In situ modification of plain liposomes with lipidated coiled coil forming peptides induces membrane fusion.
abstract: Complementary coiled coil forming lipidated peptides embedded in liposomal membranes are able to induce rapid, controlled, and targeted membrane fusion. Traditionally, such fusogenic liposomes are prepared by mixing lipids and lipidated peptides in organic solvent (e.g., chloroform). Here we prepared fusogenic liposomes in situ, i.e., by addition of a lipidated peptide solution to plain liposomes. As the lipid anchor is vital for the correct insertion of lipidated peptides into liposomal membranes, a small library of lipidated coiled coil forming peptides was designed in which the lipid structure was varied. The fusogenicity was screened using lipid and content mixing assays showing that cholesterol modified coiled coil peptides induced the most efficient fusion of membranes. Importantly, both lipid and content mixing experiments demonstrated that the in situ modification of plain liposomes with the cholesterol modified peptides yielded highly fusogenic liposomes. This work shows that existing membranes can be activated with lipidated coiled coil forming peptides, which might lead to highly potent applications such as the fusion of liposomes with cells.
authors: Soft Matter Chemistry, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9502, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: Versluis
authors: Jens
authors: J
authors: Voskuhl
authors: Bartjan
authors: B
authors: van Kolck
authors: Harshal
authors: H
authors: Zope
authors: Marien
authors: M
authors: Bremmer
authors: Tjerk
authors: T
authors: Albregtse
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Kros
mesh_terms: D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008081:Liposomes; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D008081:Liposomes; D010455:Peptides