Chiral tubule self-assembly from an achiral diynoic lipid.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 12626752.
- Also identified by PMC identifier 152241.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Tubules possessing microm-scale chiral substructure self-assemble from an achiral isomer of the tubule-forming diynoic phosphatidylcholine, 1,2-bis(10,12-tricosadiynoyl)sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine [DC(8,9)PC], showing that molecular chirality is not essential for tubule formation. CD spectroscopy shows that these structures' helical sense of handedness instead originates in a spontaneous cooperative chiral symmetry-breaking process. We conclude that the chiral symmetry-breaking must originate in the unusual feature common to the chiral and achiral tubule-forming molecules, the diynes centered in their hydrocarbon tails.