Molecular Structure of the Lecithin Ripple Phase

Molecular dynamics simulations of lectithin lipid bilayers in water as they are cooled from the liquid crystalline phase show the spontaneous formation of rippled bilayers. The ripple consists of two domains of different length and orientation, connected by a kink. The organization of the lipids in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 102; no. 15; pp. 5392 - 5396
Main Authors:	de Vries, Alex H., Yefimov, Serge, Mark, Alan E., Marrink, Siewert J., Levitt, Michael
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States National Academy of Sciences 12-04-2005 National Acad Sciences
Subjects:	1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine - chemistry 1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine - metabolism Atoms Biological Sciences Computer Simulation Force field Gels Gels - chemistry Gels - metabolism Lipid Bilayers - chemistry Lipid Bilayers - metabolism Lipids Liquids Models, Chemical Molecular structure Molecules Particle interactions Phosphatidylcholines Phosphatidylcholines - chemistry Phosphatidylcholines - metabolism Simulation Static Electricity Transition temperature Water Water - chemistry Water - metabolism
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Summary:	Molecular dynamics simulations of lectithin lipid bilayers in water as they are cooled from the liquid crystalline phase show the spontaneous formation of rippled bilayers. The ripple consists of two domains of different length and orientation, connected by a kink. The organization of the lipids in one domain of the ripple is found to be that of a splayed gel; in the other domain the lipids are gel-like and fully interdigitated. In the concave part of the kink region between the domains the lipids are disordered. The results are consistent with the experimental information available and provide an atomic-level model that may be tested by further experiments.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office. To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.h.de.vries@rug.nl. Edited by Michael Levitt, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, and approved February 23, 2005 Abbreviations: Lα, liquid crystalline; M domain, major domain; m domain, minor domain; WAXS, wide-angle x-ray scattering; MD, molecular dynamics; DPPC, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine.
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.0408249102