Disassembly of nanodiscs with cholate.

Shih, Amy Y; Freddolino, Lydia; Sligar, Stephen G; Schulten, Klaus · Nano Lett · 2007

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Nanodiscs are protein-lipid particles that furnish a nanometer-sized membrane environment for the investigation of membrane proteins. Nanodiscs assemble spontaneously upon the removal of cholate from an initial mixture of cholate, lipids, and engineered amphipathic proteins. A combined experimental-computational approach is applied here to study the disassembly of nanodiscs through the addition of cholate to preformed particles. For this purpose, small-angle X-ray scattering experiments and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were performed and compared. The study offers a detailed view of nanodisc dynamics.

Medical subject headings