Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 26: Posters: Membranes and Vesicles

BP 26.15: Poster

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A

Clustering of Peripheral Membrane Proteins on Model Membranes — •Tobias Distler, Gernot Guigas, and Matthias Weiss — University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

Peripheral membrane proteins (PMP) contribute in various vital cellular functions. In many cases they have to form clusters to accomplish their tasks. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations have predicted PMP cluster formation due to membrane-mediated interactions. Here, we present a measurement setup based on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to probe this prediction. Prior to experiments we have studied the potential measurement signals by means of FCS simulations. These calculations showed that the detection of protein clustering via FCS cross-correlation requires the usage of PMPs with a radius of at least 1.5 nm, and a concentration of 100 Proteins/µm². Therefore, we have utilized the fairly large fluorescently labeled cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) bound to the lipid GM1 as a PMP in a free-standing black lipid membrane. Preliminary data indicate that cluster formation of CTB indeed can be detected with this setup.