It can be very challenging to dissect the complex functional properties of biological cell membranes. Supported planar membranes are very helpful by reducing the complexity of real membranes and thereby focusing on certain constituents and functions. Here we report results from studies about trans-membrane phase coupling pertinent to lipid rafts and membrane fusion.Previously we reported how cholesterol-rich liquid-ordered domains with lipid compositions typically found in the outer leaflet of plasma membranes induce liquid-ordered domains in adjacent regions of asymmetric lipid bilayers with apposed leaflets composed of typical inner leaflet lipid mixtures. We show how binding of Synaptotagmin 1 C2 domains to PS and PIP2 containing bilayers is modulated by induced inner leaflet lipid phases.We present results from SNARE mediated single vesicle fusion experiments. Vesicles containing recombinant Synaptobrevin and purified synaptic vesicles are observed during fusion with supported membranes containing the SNARE acceptor complex consisting of Syntaxin1 and SNAP25.

Mechanism of raft formation and membrane fusion studied in supported planar bilayers

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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