Lipid bilayers suspended beneath the air/water interface for neutron reflectivity investigation of mechanosensitive ion channels

DOI

Bacterial membranes contain safety valves called mechanosensitive ion channels, which protect the bacterium from changes in the osmotic pressure of their environment. However, they also represent a possible achilles heal, which we may be able to exploit to help overcome the current rise in bacterial antimicrobial resistance. The ion channels could be actuated by a change in membrane tension caused by therapeutic molecules interacting with the membrane. We will develop a platform in which a model bacterial membrane is formed beneath a single layer of soap molecules at the air-water interface of a trough. We will use the reflection of neutrons to probe if the addition of the therapeutic peptide causes a change in the curvature/tension of the bilayer in which the ion channels have been embedded and in doing so causes the channel to open, increasing the amount of water in the bilayer.

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.92918875
Metadata Access https://icatisis.esc.rl.ac.uk/oaipmh/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_datacite&identifier=oai:icatisis.esc.rl.ac.uk:inv/92918875
Provenance
Creator Dr Simon Titmuss; Dr Sophie Ayscough; Dr Maxmilian Skoda
Publisher ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
Publication Year 2021
Rights CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
OpenAccess true
Contact isisdata(at)stfc.ac.uk
Representation
Resource Type Dataset
Discipline Biology; Biomaterials; Engineering Sciences; Life Sciences; Materials Science; Materials Science and Engineering; Natural Sciences; Physics
Temporal Coverage Begin 2018-05-08T08:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2018-05-11T08:23:05Z