The exchange of phospholipids between membranes is critical in many biological systems, including the maintenance of membrane integrity in eukaryotic organelles and prokaryotes. This work centers on the role of bacterial integral and peripheral membrane proteins and their roles in the exchange of lipids between membranes. Synthetic vesicles will be used to mimic biological membranes and the transport of fluorophore-tagged lipid derivatives between liposomes provides both kinetic and mechanistic insight into lipid exchange. A representative bacterial integral membrane protein will be expressed and purified using affinity and size exclusion chromatography prior to being reconstituted into synthetic vesicles for functional characterization. The addition of peripheral membrane proteins on lipid exchange will additionally be investigated, along with the effect of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and pH. This research will further scientific understanding of how phospholipids are exchanged between biological membranes and aid in the future development of antibiotics to target bacterial lipid transport.
Suli Kamholtz-Roberts (Sun,) studied this question.
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