Proteins in lipid membranes are one of the fundamental building blocks of biological functionality. Lawrence Livermore researchers have figured out how to mimic their role using carbon nanotube porins.
Using high-speed, atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM), the team showed that a new type of biomimetic channel — carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs) — also is laterally mobile in supported lipid membranes, mirroring biological protein behavior.
The research opens the door to use CNTPs as models to study membrane protein physics, as well as versatile and mobile components for artificial cells and hybrid systems that combine biological cells and man-made components.
Lipid membranes represent one the fundamental components of the architecture of life because they provide a versatile matrix for a variety of membrane proteins that can perform a variety of tasks including molecular recognition and signal transduction, metabolite transport and membrane remodeling.
The 2D fluid nature of the lipid membrane not only allows it to adapt to a variety of shapes, but also permits membrane proteins to diffuse within this 2D plane, enabling many important biological processes.
“To understand the fundamental physics of protein motion in the lipid membrane, we needed an approach that would combine simple and robust membrane protein models with imaging and tracking approaches that can follow membrane motion on the relevant length and time scales,” said Yuliang Zhang, an LLNL postdoctoral researcher and lead author of a paper in the journal, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
The team created simple and versatile artificial membrane pore equivalents — CNTPs —that are made of short segments of single-wall carbon nanotubes that can self-insert into the lipid membrane and form a transmembrane pore. These very simple objects show a wealth of behaviors similar to membrane protein pores: they can transport water, ions and protons across the membrane.
“We found that the CNTPS were able to reproduce another key property of membrane proteins — their ability to diffuse in the lipid membrane,” said Alex Noy, LLNL scientist and the principal investigator on the CNTP project. “High-speed AFM imaging can capture real-time dynamics of CNTP motion in the supported lipid bi-layer membrane.”
Zhang said the study demonstrates that the similarities between CNTPs and biological membrane pores include not only similar transport properties, but also the ability to move laterally in the membrane.
Learn more: Carbon nanotubes mimic biology
The Latest on: Carbon nanotube porins
[google_news title=”” keyword=”carbon nanotube porins” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Carbon nanotube porins
- Carbon Marketson April 28, 2024 at 8:18 am
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial ...
- Scientists stencil-paint carbon nanotube components for flexible transparent electronicson April 23, 2024 at 9:23 am
Researchers from Skoltech, MIPT, and elsewhere have found a fast and inexpensive way to create geometric patterns in carbon nanotube films. The resulting films turned out to have superior properties ...
- Earth Day 2024: How to calculate your carbon footprint?on April 22, 2024 at 2:41 am
A carbon footprint represents the amount of carbon dioxide emitted because of how one lives one’s life. For instance, you can calculate the environmental impact of your transportation.
- Can this ocean-based carbon plant help save the world? Some scientists are raising red flagson April 20, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Editor’s Note: CNN Films ”Blue Carbon: Nature’s Hidden Power” takes viewers from the mangroves of Vietnam to the salt marshes of France to investigate a powerful new ally in the battle ...
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: What you need to know this summer about the silent killeron April 18, 2024 at 5:01 pm
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Carbon monoxide poisoning can be deadly, taking your life in just a few minutes. While the odorless gas poses a threat all year long, there are situations this spring ...
- Carbon offsets too often don’t deliver. Inside the race to fix them.on April 17, 2024 at 11:16 am
in 2021. (Charlie Riedel/AP) They are marketed as a solution for companies and consumers looking to erase their carbon footprint, with promises that money spent on “offsets” will go to ...
- Carbon Neutral: The Latest Architecture and Newson April 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Representing 32% of the global population, Generation Z (those born between 1995 – 2010) accounts for a healthy chunk of the workforce (27% by 2025 and rising every year). These are the fresh ...
- ‘Why wouldn’t you, if you can run faster?’: the unstoppable rise of the carbon-fibre super shoeon April 7, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Inside the shoe was a spoon-shaped, carbon-fibre plate, which rocked forwards and made runners feel they were being propelled downhill. But Adidas, which sponsors Sesemann, along with other ...
- The unassuming material that could soak up carbon emissionson April 6, 2024 at 4:00 am
Glacier flour is on the mountain where ice has melted at the Ossoue glacier on the Vignemale peak in the French Pyrenees in September 2021. The Ossoue glacier is the highest and largest glacier in ...
- This Is Air Carbon, the Lightest e-Bike in the World. Unstealable, Tooon April 6, 2024 at 12:21 am
Here's ADO leading the charge with a carbon fiber e-bike. Carbon fiber on bikes, much like it happens in the automotive industry, is a premium feature. Carbon fiber is exceptionally lighter than ...
via Bing News