The lag-burst phenomenon in the phospholipase A(2) mediated hydrolysis of phospholipid bilayers is for the first time demonstrated in an atomic force microscopy (AFM) study. Simultaneous AFM measurements of the degree of bilayer degradation and the physical-chemical state of the membrane reveals growing nanoscale indentations in the membrane during the lag phase. It is argued that these indentations are domains of hydrolysis products (lysoPC/PC) which eventually trigger the burst. The rate of the rapid hydrolysis following the burst is found to be proportional to the length of the edge between membrane adsorbed and desorbed to the mica base. The observed maximal rate of membrane degradation is approx. 0.2 mmol lipid/min/mol lipase in solution.

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Phospholipid hydrolysis to free fatty acid and 1-lyso-phospholipid by water-soluble phospholipase A2 (PLA2) at the surface of lipid membranes exhibits a poorly understood transition from a low-activity lag phase to a burst regime of rapid hydrolysis. Understanding this kinetic phenomenon may increase our insight into the function of PLA2 under physiological conditions as well as into general interfacial catalysis. In the present study we apply for the first time cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to characterize the PLA2 hydrolysis of phospholipid vesicles with respect to changes in lipid composition and morphology. Our direct experimental results show that the initial reaction conditions are strongly perturbed during the course of hydrolysis. Most strikingly, cryo-TEM reveals that starting in the lag phase, vesicles become perforated and degrade into open vesicles, bilayer fragments, and micelles. This structural instability extends throughout the system in the activity burst regime. In agreement with earlier reported correlations between initial phospholipase activity and substrate morphology, our results suggest that the lag-burst phenomenon reflects a cascade process. The PLA2-induced changes in lipid composition transform the morphology which in turn results in an acceleration of the rate of hydrolysis because of a strong coupling between the PLA2 activity and the morphology of the lipid suspension.

This paper presents a theoretical and computational investigation of convection, diffusion, and adsorption in surface-based biosensors. In particular, we study the transport dynamics in a model geometry of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. The work, however, is equally relevant for other microfluidic surface-based biosensors, operating under flow conditions. A widely adopted approximate quasi-steady theory to capture convective and diffusive mass transport is reviewed, and an analytical solution is presented. An expression of the Damkoḧler number is derived in terms of the nondimensional adsorption coefficient (Biot number), the nondimensional flow rate (Pećlet number), and the model geometry. Transient dynamics is investigated, and we quantify the error of using the quasi-steady-state assumption for experimental data fitting in both kinetically limited and convection-diffusionlimited regimes for irreversible adsorption, in specific. The results clarify the conditions under which the quasi-steady theory is reliable or not. In extension to the well-known fact that the range of validity is altered under convection-diffusion-limited conditions, we show how also the ratio of the inlet concentration to the maximum surface capacity is critical for reliable use of the quasi-steady theory. Finally, our results provide users of surface-based biosensors with a tool for correcting experimentally obtained adsorption rate constants.

We have analyzed surface diffusion properties of a variant of Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase (TLL) on hydrophilic silica and silica methylated with dichlorodimethylsilane (DDS) or octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS). For this study a novel method for analysis of diffusion on solid surfaces was developed. The method is based on fluorescence recovery after photobleaching using confocal microscopy. When a rectangular area of the sample was photobleached, fluorescence recovery could be analyzed as one-dimensional diffusion, resulting in simplified mathematical expressions for fitting the data. The method was initially tested by measuring bovine serum albumin diffusion on glass, which led to a diffusion coefficient in good correspondence to earlier reports. For the analysis of TLL diffusion, ellipsometry data of TLL adsorption were used to calibrate fluorescence intensity to surface density of lipase, enabling measurements of the diffusion coefficient at different surface densities. The average diffusion coefficient was calculated in two time intervals after adsorption. Mobile fraction and diffusion coefficient were lowest on the OTS surface, when extrapolated to infinite surface dilution. Moreover, the diffusion rate decreased with time on the hydrophobic surfaces. Our observations can be explained by the surface dependence on the distribution of orientations and conformations of adsorbed TLL, where the transition from the closed to the catalytically active open and more hydrophobic structure is important.

With the aim of being able to manipulate the processes involved in interfacial catalysis, we have studied the effects of a mixture of nonionic/anionic surfactants, C12E6/LAS (1:2 mol %), on the adsorption and surface mobility of a lipase obtained from Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL). Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and ellipsometry were used to analyze the competitive adsorption process between surfactants and TLL onto hydrophobic model surfaces intended to mimic an oily substrate for the lipase. We obtained the surface diffusion coefficient of a fluorescently labeled TLL variant on silica silanized with octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) on a confocal laser scanning microscope. By means of ellipsometry we calibrated the fluorescence intensity with the surface density of the lipase. The TLL diffusion was measured at different surface densities of the enzyme and at two time intervals after coadsorption with different concentrations of C12E6/LAS. The surfactant concentrations were chosen to represent concentrations below the critical micelle concentration (CMC), in the CMC region, and above the CMC. The apparent TLL surface diffusion was extrapolated to infinite surface dilution, D0. We found that the presence of surfactants strongly modulated the surface mobility of TLL: with D(0) = 0.8 x 10(-11) cm2/s without surfactants and D0 = 13.1 x 10(-11) cm2/s with surfactants above the CMC. The increase in lipase mobility on passing the CMC was also accompanied by a 2-fold increase in the mobile fraction of TLL. SPR analysis revealed that surface bound TLL was displaced by C12E6/LAS in a concentration-dependent manner, suggesting that the observed increase in surface mobility imparts bulk-mediated diffusion and so-called rebinding of TLL to the surface. Our combined results on lipase/surfactant competitive adsorption and lipase surface mobility show how surfactants may play an important role in regulating interfacial catalysis from physiological digestion to technical applications such as detergency.

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Phospholipase A2 (PLA2)-catalyzed hydrolysis of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) liposomes incorporated with submicellar concentrations of polyethyleneoxide covalently attached to dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DPPE-PEG2000) has been studied in the gel-to-fluid transition region of the host DPPC lipid bilayer matrix. By means of fluorescence and light-scattering measurements, the characteristic PLA2 lag time has been determined as a function of lipopolymer concentration and temperature. The degree of lipid hydrolysis was followed using radioactive labeled lipids. Differential scanning calorimetry has been applied to characterize the thermodynamic phase behavior of the lipopolymer-containing liposomes. A remarkable lipopolymer concentration-dependent decrease in the lag time was observed over broad temperature ranges. The radioactive measurements demonstrate an increase in catalytic activity for increasing amounts of lipopolymers in the bilayer. Hence, the lipopolymers act as a promoter of PLA2 lipid hydrolysis resulting in a degradation of the bilayer structure and a concomitant destabilization of the liposomes. This behavior is in contrast to the generally observed protective and stabilization effect in biological fluids exerted by lipopolymers in polymer-grafted liposomes. It is proposed that the enhanced activity of the small water soluble and interfacially active enzyme may involve a non-uniform distribution of the lipopolymers in the lipid matrix due to a coupling between local lipid bilayer curvature and composition of the non-bilayer-preferring lipopolymers.