Abstract

The reconstitution of the integral membrane protein photosynthetic reaction center (RC) in polymersomes, i.e. artificial closed vesicles, was achieved by the micelle-to-vesicle transition technique, a very mild protocol based on size exclusion chromatography often used to drive the incorporation of proteins contemporarily to liposome formation. An optimized protocol was used to successfully reconstitute the protein in a fully active state in polymersomes formed by the tri-block copolymers PMOXA<inf>22</inf>-PDMS<inf>61</inf>-PMOXA<inf>22</inf>. The RC is very sensitive to its solubilizing environment and was used to probe the positioning of the protein in the vesicles. According to charge-recombination experiments and to the enzymatic activity assay, the RC is found to accommodate in the PMOXA<inf>22</inf> region of the polymersome, facing the water bulk solution, rather than in the PDMS<inf>61</inf> transmembrane-like region. Furthermore, polymersomes were found to preserve protein integrity efficiently as the biomimetic lipid bilayers but show a much longer temporal stability than lipid based vesicles.

Autore Pugliese

• Milano Francesco , Hassan Omar Omar , Trotta Massimo , Comparelli Roberto

Tutti gli autori

• Tangorra R. R.; Operamolla A.; Milano F.; Omar O. Hassan; Henrard J.; Comparelli R.; Italiano F.; Agostiano A.; Agostiano A.; De Leo V.; Marotta R.; Falqui A.; Farinola G. M.; Farinola G. M.; Trotta M.

Titolo volume/Rivista

Photochemical & photobiological sciences

Anno di pubblicazione

2015

ISSN

1474-905X

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Numero di citazioni Scopus

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Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

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