Long-range interlayer alignment of intralayer domains in stacked lipid bilayers

Nat Mater. 2012 Dec;11(12):1074-80. doi: 10.1038/nmat3451. Epub 2012 Oct 21.

Abstract

Liquid-crystalline phases of stacked lipid bilayers represent a pervasive motif in biomolecular assemblies. Here we report that, in addition to the usual smectic order, multicomponent multilayer membranes can exhibit columnar order arising from the coupling of two-dimensional intralayer phase separation and interlayer smectic ordering. This coupling propagates across hundreds of membrane lamellae, producing long-range alignment of phase-separated domains. Quantitative analysis of real-time dynamical experiments reveals that there is an interplay between intralayer domain growth and interlayer coupling, suggesting the existence of cooperative multilayer epitaxy. We postulate that such long-range epitaxy is solvent-assisted, and that it originates from the surface tension associated with differences in the network of hydrogen-bonded water molecules at the hydrated interfaces between the domains and the surrounding phase. Our findings might inspire the development of self-assembly-based strategies for the long-range alignment of functional lipid domains.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Lipid Bilayers / chemistry*
  • Membrane Microdomains / chemistry*
  • Water / chemistry
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Lipid Bilayers
  • Water