Actions

Download Analytics Citations

Export to: EndNote  |  Zotero  |  Mendeley

Collections

This file is not currently in any collections.

Contact-induced molecular reorganization in E. coli model lipid membranes [dataset] Open Access

Biological membranes are complex, dynamic structures essential for cellular compartmentalization, signaling, and mechanical integrity. The molecular organization of eukaryotic membranes has been extensively studied, including the lipid raft-mediated lateral organization and the influence of the specific molecular interactions. Bacterial membranes were traditionally viewed as compositionally simpler and structurally uniform. Recent evidence, however, reveals that they possess significant lipid diversity and can form functional microdomains reminiscent of eukaryotic lipid rafts, despite lacking sterols and sphingolipids. Yet, the impact of unspecific physical contacts on the local molecular organization and evolution of the prokaryotic membranes remains poorly understood. Here we use a model lipid membrane mimicking the composition of Escherichia coli’s inner membrane to investigate the impact of contacting substrates on the membrane nanoscale evolution, when close to its transition temperature, Tm. As expected, the presence of a substrate lowers the Tm by ~10 °C and induces a differential leaflet transition. However, it also slows down the phase transition kinetics by almost 2 orders of magnitude while simultaneously enabling a spinodal-like lateral molecular reorganization. This creates local alterations of the phase of the membrane, with the emergence of mechanically stiffer, yet still fluid nanodomains evolving over substrate-dependent timescales, consistent with a substrate-biased lipid flip-flop mechanism. The results verify previous theoretical predictions and demonstrate that a general physical mechanism—driven by membrane-surface interactions—can spontaneously induce lipid domain formation in bacterial membranes. This is bound to have notable consequences for its function and mechanical role, including in processes like osmotic pressure regulation.

Descriptions

Resource type

Dataset

Contributors

Creator: Tormena, Nicolo ¹
Editor: Pilizota, Teuta ²
Contact person: Voitchovsky, Kislon ³

¹ Durham University, UK
² University of Cambridge, UK
³ Durham University

Funder

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Research methods

Atomic Force Microscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Other description

Chiefly research data in IBW format.

Keyword

Lipid membranes
Asymmetry
Phase transition
Molecular reorganisation
Kinetics

Subject

Lipid membranes
Molecular biology

Location

Language

Cited in

Identifier

ark:/32150/r2hq37vn69j
doi:10.15128/r2hq37vn69j

Rights

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY)

Publisher

Durham University

Date Created

File Details

Depositor

K.D. Voitchovsky

Date Uploaded

14 August 2025, 09:08:45

Date Modified

22 August 2025, 10:08:01

Audit Status

Audits have not yet been run on this file.

Characterization

File format: zip (ZIP Format)

Mime type: application/zip

File size: 1410068332

Last modified: 2025:08:14 10:33:14+01:00

Filename: Spinodal_Data.zip

Original checksum: 628bd57ca421147bf88d1b37eb2b1c0c