Fluorophore position of headgroup-labeled Gb3 glycosphingolipids in lipid bilayers

Supported Biomembrane Systems Incorporating Multiarm Polymers and Bioorthogonal Tethering

“…Given that the levels of coverage and apparent surface roughness were similar in all of the PEG cases, our finding is that most likely the level of bilayer tethering density and spacing afforded by the 4arm20k-PEG linker yielded the best results for future studies that will incorporate membrane proteins. As it has been seen that the nature of the PEG tether length can disturb the lipid packing leading to changes in local diffusivity of reporters in supported membranes, as in the work of Socrier et al, it is difficult to make concrete determinations of the impact of the different PEG configurations . When measuring PEG–lipid conjugate diffusivity in supported membranes, it has been shown that the anchoring moiety matters most up until headgroup PEG crowding comes into play, and we will likely evidence this type of phenomena once membrane proteins are embedded.…”

“…As it has been seen that the nature of the PEG tether length can disturb the lipid packing leading to changes in local diffusivity of reporters in supported membranes, as in the work of Socrier et al, it is difficult to make concrete determinations of the impact of the different PEG configurations. 19 When measuring PEG−lipid conjugate diffusivity in supported membranes, it has been shown that the anchoring moiety matters most up until headgroup PEG crowding comes into play, 20 and we will likely evidence this type of phenomena once membrane proteins are embedded. Within the limited scope of our study, it is difficult to go beyond a correlation and separate the PEG spacing from the simultaneous effect of the tethering density, but we aim to probe this further in future studies.…”