期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2002
卷号:99
期号:22
页码:14147-14152
DOI:10.1073/pnas.212392599
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between lipid-linked donor and acceptor molecules in two apposing lipid bilayer membranes is used to resolve topographical features at an intermembrane junction. Efficient energy transfer occurs when the membranes are apposed closely, which creates an image, or footprint, that maps the contact zone and reveals nanometer-scale topographical structures. We experimentally characterize intermembrane FRET by using a supported membrane junction consisting of a glass-supported lipid membrane, onto which a second membrane is deposited by rupture of a giant vesicle. A series of membrane junctions containing different glycolipids (phosphatidylinositol and ganglioside GM1), protein (cholera toxin), and lipid-linked polyethylene glycol are studied. The carbohydrate and protein components influence the intermembrane separation. Differential FRET efficiency is clearly distinguishable for each case. Quantitative analysis of the FRET efficiency yields measurements of intermembrane-separation distances that agree precisely with structural data on GM1 and cholera toxin. The lateral arrangement of molecular species on the membrane surface thus can be discerned by their influence on membrane spacing without the need for direct labeling of the molecule of interest. In the case of polyethylene glycol lipid-containing membrane junctions, imaging by intermembrane FRET reveals spontaneously forming patterns that are not visible in conventional fluorescence images.