Structure–function relationships in pure archaeal bipolar tetraether lipids
Ahanjit Bhattacharya, Isaac D. Falk, Frank R. Moss, Thomas Weiß, Khoi Tran, Noah Z. Burns, Steven G. Boxer
Abstract
small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). SAXS studies on bulk aqueous dispersions of GDGT lipids over 10-90 °C revealed lamellar and non-lamellar phases and their transitions. Next we asked whether vesicles overwhelmingly composed of a single GDGT species can undergo fusion as it is difficult to conceptualize such behavior with the assumption that such membranes have a monolayer structure. Interestingly, we observed that GDGT vesicles undergo fusion with influenza virus with lipid mixing kinetics comparable to that with vesicles composed of monopolar phospholipids. Our results suggest that GDGT membranes may consist of regions with a bilayer structure or form bilayer structures transiently which facilitate fusion and thus offer insight into how archaea may perform important physiological functions that require dynamical membrane behavior.