Lateral mobility of proteins and peptides in membranes

PhD ceremony: Mr. S. Ramadurai, 16.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Thesis: Lateral mobility of proteins and peptides in membranes

Promotor(s): prof. B. Poolman

Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Biological membranes are composed of various lipids species of different acyl chain lengths and head groups. The lateral organisation and mobility of bilayer spanning proteins depends on lipid environment. Lateral mobility of proteins play a crucial role in cellular processes. Theoretical framework on lateral mobility of proteins in membrane was proposed by Saffman-Delbrück. This pioneering work comprises that lateral mobility is weakly dependent on the radius of the proteins but strongly dependent on thickness and viscosity of the membrane. In this thesis, integral proteins with different radius and transmembrane peptides are reconstituted in the membrane composed of lipids with different acyl chain length and head groups, and there lateral mobility are experimentally determined by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.