A Fluorescence-based Assay for Measuring Phospholipid Scramblase Activity in Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

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Transbilayer movement of phospholipids in biological membranes is mediated by a diverse set of lipid transporters. Among them are scramblases that facilitate rapid bi-directional movement of lipids without metabolic energy input. In this protocol, we describe the incorporation of phospholipid scramblases into giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) formed from scramblase-containing large unilamellar vesicles by electroformation. We also describe how to analyze their activity using membrane-impermeant sodium dithionite, to bleach symmetrically incorporated fluorescent ATT0488-conjugated phospholipids. The fluorescence-based readout allows single vesicle tracking for a large number of settled/immobilized GUVs, and provides a well-defined experimental setup to directly characterize these lipid transporters at the molecular level.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4366
JournalBio-protocol
Volume12
Issue number6
Number of pages19
ISSN2331-8325
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

    Research areas

  • ATTO488, Electroformation, Dithionite, Fluorescence microscopy, Giant unilamellar vesicle, Phospholipid scramblase, Fluorescence bleaching, ENDOPLASMIC-RETICULUM MEMBRANE, FLIP-FLOP, PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE, ELECTROFORMATION, RECONSTITUTION, MECHANISMS, PROTEINS, EXPOSURE

ID: 304158700