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We have studied the binding of peptides containing both basic and aromatic residues to phospholipid vesicles. The peptides caveolin(92-101) and MARCKS(151-175) both contain five aromatic residues, but have 3 and 13 positive charges, respectively. Our results show the aromatic residues insert into the bilayer and anchor the peptides weakly to vesicles formed from the zwitterionic lipid phosphatidylcholine (PC). Incorporation of a monovalent acidic lipid (e.g., phosphatidylserine, PS) into the vesicles enhances the binding of both peptides via nonspecific electrostatic interactions. As predicted from application of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation to atomic models of the peptide and membranes, the enhancement is larger (e.g., 10(4)- vs 10-fold for 17% PS) for the more basic MARCKS(151-175). Replacing the five Phe with five Ala residues in MARCKS(151-175) decreases the binding to 10:1 PC/PS vesicles only slightly (6-fold). This result is also consistent with the predictions of our theoretical model: the loss of the attractive hydrophobic energy is partially compensated by a decrease in the repulsive Born/desolvation energy as the peptide moves away from the membrane surface. Incorporating multivalent phosphatidylinositol 4, 5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)) into PC vesicles produces dramatically different effects on the membrane binding of the two peptides: 1% PIP(2) enhances caveolin(92-101) binding only 3-fold, but increases MARCKS(151-175) binding 10(4)-fold. The strong interaction between the effector region of MARCKS and PIP(2) has interesting implications for the cellular function of MARCKS.

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Combining both chemical and physical cross-links in a double-network hydrogel (DN gel) has emerged as a promising design strategy to obtain highly mechanically strong hydrogels. Unlike chemically cross-linked DN gels, little is known about the fracture process and toughening mechanisms of hybrid chemically physically linked DN gels. In this work, we engineered tough hybrid DN gels of agar/polyacrylamide (Agar/PAAm) by combining two types of cross-linked polymer networks: a physically linked, first agar network and a chemical-linked, second PAAm network. The resulting Agar/PAAm exhibited high stiffness of 313 kPa and high toughness of 1089 J/m2. We then specifically examined the effect of the first agar network on the mechanical properties of hybrid Agar/PAAm gels. We found that by controlling agar concentrations above a critical value, the physically linked agar network can simultaneously enhance both stiffness and toughness of Agar/PAAm DN gels, as evidenced by a linear relationship of elastic modulus and tearing energies of the gels as the increase of agar concentration. This toughening behavior is different from that of chemically linked DN gels. Complement to chemically linked DN gels, this work provides a different view for the design of new stiff and tough hydrogels using hybrid physical and chemical networks.

Fatty Acid Desaturase (FADS) genes and their variants have been associated with multiple metabolic phenotypes including liver enzymes and hepatic fat accumulation but the detailed mechanism remains unclear. We aimed to delineate the role of FADSs in modulating lipid composition in human liver. We performed a targeted lipidomic analysis of a variety of phospholipids, sphingolipids and ceramides among 154 human liver tissue samples. The associations between previously Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS)-identified six FADS single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and these lipid levels as well as total hepatic fat content (HFC) were tested. The potential function of these SNPs in regulating transcription of 3 FADS genes (FADS1, FADS2 and FADS3) in the locus was also investigated. We found that while these SNPs were in high linkage disequilibrium (r2 >0.8), the rare alleles of these SNPs were consistently and significantly associated with the accumulation of multiple very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs), with C47H85O13P (C36:4), a phosphatidylinositol (PI) and C43H80O8PN (C38:3), a phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) reached the Bonferroni corrected significance (p<3×10−4). Meanwhile, these SNPs were significantly associated with increased ratios between the more saturated and relatively less saturated forms of VLCFAs, especially between PEs, PIs and phosphatidylcholines (PCs) (p≤3.5×10−6). These alleles were also associated with increased total HFC (p<0.05). Further analyses revealed that these alleles were associated with decreased hepatic expression of FADS1 (p=0.0018 for rs174556), but not FADS2 or FADS3 (p>0.05). Conclusion Our findings revealed critical insight into the mechanism underlying FADS1 and its polymorphisms in modulating hepatic lipid deposition by altering gene transcription and controlling lipid composition in human livers.