Transmission of Binding Information across Lipid Bilayers
✍ Scribed by Harmen P. Dijkstra; Jordan J. Hutchinson; Christopher A. Hunter; Haiyuan Qin; Salvador Tomas; Simon J. Webb; Nicholas H. Williams
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 308 KB
- Volume
- 13
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0947-6539
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
A synthetic transmembrane receptor that is capable of transmitting binding information across a lipid bilayer membrane is reported. The binding event is based on aggregation of the receptor triggered by copper(II) complexation to ethylenediamine functionalities. By labelling the receptor with fluorescent dansyl groups, the copper(II) binding event could be monitored by measuring the extent of fluorescence quenching. Comparing the receptor with a control receptor lacking the transmembrane linkage revealed that the transmembrane receptor binds copper(II) ions more tightly than the non‐spanning control receptor at low copper(II) concentrations. Since the intrinsic binding to copper(II) is the same for both receptors, this effect was attributed to synergy between the connected interior and exterior binding sides of the transmembrane receptor. Thus, this is the first reported artificial signalling event in which binding of a messenger on one side of the membrane leads to a cooperative binding event on the opposite side of the membrane, resembling biological signalling systems and helping us to get a better understanding of the requirements for more effective artificial signalling systems.