Nanoscale membrane curvature in cells is critical for endocytosis/exocytosis and membrane trafficking. However, the biophysical ramifications of nanoscale membrane curvature on the behavior of lipids remain poorly understood. Here, we created an experimental model system of membrane curvature at a physiologically-relevant scale and obtained nanoscopic information on single-lipid distributions and dynamics. Supported lipid bilayers were created over 50 and 70 nm radius nanoparticles to create membrane buds. Single-molecule localization microscopy was performed with diverse mixtures of fluorescent and non-fluorescent lipids. Variations in lipid acyl tales length, saturation, head-group, and fluorescent labeling strategy were tested while maintaining a single fluid lipid phase throughout the membrane. Monte Carlo simulations were used to fit our experimental results and quantify the effects of curvature on the lipid diffusion and sorting. Whereas varying the composition of the non-fluorescent lipids yielded minimal changes to the curvature effects, the labeling strategy of the fluorescent lipids yielded highly varying effects of curvature. Most conditions yield single-population Brownian diffusion throughout the membrane; however, curvature-induced lipid sorting, slowing, and aggregation were observed in some conditions. Head-group labeled lipids such as DPPE-Texas Red and POPE-Rhodamine diffused >2.4× slower on the curved vs. the planar membranes; tail-labeled lipids such as NBD-PPC, TopFluor-PPC, and TopFluor-PIP2, as well as DiIC and DiIC displayed no significant changes in diffusion due to the membrane curvature. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Emergence of Complex Behavior in Biomembranes edited by Marjorie Longo.

Recent advances in nanoengineering and super-resolution microscopy have enabled new capabilities for creating and observing membrane curvature. However, the effects of curvature on single-lipid diffusion have yet to be revealed. The simulations presented here describe the capabilities of varying experimental methods for revealing the effects of nanoscale curvature on single-molecule mobility. Traditionally, lipid mobility is revealed through fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP), fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), and single particle tracking (SPT). However, these techniques vary greatly in their ability to detect the effects of nanoscale curvature on lipid behavior. Traditionally, FRAP and FCS depend on diffraction-limited illumination and detection. A simulation of FRAP shows minimal effects on lipids diffusion due to a 50 nm radius membrane bud. Throughout the stages of the budding process, FRAP detected minimal changes in lipid recovery time due to the curvature versus flat membrane. Simulated FCS demonstrated small effects due to a 50 nm radius membrane bud that was more apparent with curvature-dependent lipid mobility changes. However, SPT achieves a sub-diffraction-limited resolution of membrane budding and lipid mobility through the identification of the single-lipid positions with ≤15 nm spatial and ≤20 ms temporal resolution. By mapping the single-lipid step lengths to locations on the membrane, the effects of membrane topography and curvature could be correlated to the effective membrane viscosity. Single-fluorophore localization techniques, such SPT, can detect membrane curvature and its effects on lipid behavior. These simulations and discussion provide a guideline for optimizing the experimental procedures in revealing the effects of curvature on lipid mobility and effective local membrane viscosity.

Mineral dust particles in the atmosphere are often aspherical and their shape is important for a multitude of processes. Yet, measurements of the true shape in three dimensions are rare, even in a laboratory setting. Here, we employ atomic force microscopy to determine the 3D shape and surface roughness for two dusts commonly used in laboratory experiments, Arizona test dust (ATD) and kaolinite. Our major finding is that both are thin and remarkably smooth. An oblate spheroidal description is an excellent fit to these data. We use correlation analysis to further examine the surface properties of the dusts and find essentially no features at horizontal spatial scales between »10 and 100 nm. This surprising result is supported by the agreement between our specific surface area and BET surface area measurements. The thin, smooth, spheroidal approximation has many implications for physical processes in the atmosphere, including dust transport and radiative transfer.

Phase separation is a fundamental organizing mechanism on cellular membranes. Lipid phases have complex dependencies on the membrane composition, curvature, tension, and temperature. Single-molecule diffusion measures a key characteristic of membrane behavior and relates to the effective membrane viscosity. Lipid diffusion rates vary by up to ten-fold between liquid-disordered (Ld) and liquid-ordered (Lo) phases depending on the membrane composition, measurement technique, and the surrounding environment. This manuscript reports the lipid diffusion on phase-separated supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) with varying temperature, composition, and lipid phase. Lipid diffusion is measured by single-particle tracking (SPT) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) via custom data acquisition and analysis protocols that apply to diverse membranes systems. We demonstrate agreement between FCS and SPT analyses with both the single-step length distribution and the mean squared displacement of lipids with significant immobile diffusers. Traditionally, SPT is sensitive to diffuser aggregation, whereas FCS largely excludes aggregates from the reported data. Protocols are reported for identifying and culling the aggregates prior to calculating diffusion rates via SPT. With aggregate culling, all diffusion measurement methods provide consistent results. With varying membrane composition and temperature, we demonstrate the importance of the tie-line length that separates the coexisting lipid phases in predicting the differences in diffusion between the Ld and Lo phases. HIGHLIGHTS• Lipid diffusion varies with the lipid phases, temperature, and aggregation • Aggregate culling yields consistent measurements from single-particle tracking and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy • Membrane with higher cholesterol content or at low temperature have more aggregates • A more variation in the diffusion rates occurred between the coexisting lipid phases at low temperatures and low cholesterol content

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