Cell cycle dependent changes in membrane stored curvature elastic energy: evidence from lipidomic studies

A Membrane Biophysics Perspective on the Mechanism of Alcohol Toxicity

Motivations for understanding the underlying mechanisms of alcohol toxicity range from economical to toxicological and clinical. On the one hand, acute alcohol toxicity limits biofuel yields, and on the other hand, acute alcohol toxicity provides a vital defense mechanism to prevent the spread of disease. Herein the role that stored curvature elastic energy (SCE) in biological membranes might play in alcohol toxicity is discussed, for both short and long-chain alcohols. Structure-toxicity relationships for alcohols ranging from methanol to hexadecanol are collated, and estimates of alcohol toxicity per alcohol molecule in the cell membrane are made. The latter reveal a minimum toxicity value per molecule around butanol before alcohol toxicity per molecule increases to a maximum around decanol and subsequently decreases again. The impact of alcohol molecules on the lamellar to inverse hexagonal phase transition temperature (T_H) is then presented and used as a metric to assess the impact of alcohol molecules on SCE. This approach suggests the nonmonotonic relationship between alcohol toxicity and chain length is consistent with SCE being a target of alcohol toxicity. Finally, in vivo evidence for SCE-driven adaptations to alcohol toxicity in the literature are discussed.

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Bisphosphate Sensing Lipid Raft via Inter-Leaflet Coupling Regulated by Acyl Chain Length of Sphingomyelin

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP₂) is an important molecule located at the inner leaflet of cell membrane, where it serves as anchoring sites for a cohort of membrane-associated molecules and as a broad-reaching signaling intermediate. The lipid raft is thought as the major platform recruiting proteins for signal transduction and also known to mediate PIP₂ accumulation across the membrane. While the significance of this cross-membrane coupling is increasingly appreciated, it remains unclear whether and how PIP₂ senses the dynamic change of the ordered lipid domains over the packed hydrophobic core of the bilayer. Herein, by means of molecular dynamic simulation, we reveal that inner PIP₂ molecules can sense the outer lipid domain via inter-leaflet coupling, and the coupling manner is dictated by the acyl chain length of sphingomyelin (SM) partitioned to the lipid domain. Shorter SM promotes membrane domain registration, whereby PIP₂ accumulates beneath the domain across the membrane. In contrast, the anti-registration is thermodynamically preferred if the lipid domain has longer SM due to the hydrophobic mismatch between the corresponding acyl chains in SM and PIP₂. In this case, PIP₂ is expelled by the domain with a higher diffusivity. These results provide molecular insights into the regulatory mechanism of correlation between the outer lipid domain and inner PIP₂, both of which are critical components for cell signal transduction.

Does membrane curvature elastic energy play a role in mediating oxidative stress in lipid membranes?

The effects of oxidative stress on cells are associated with a wide range of pathologies. Oxidative stress is predominantly initiated by the action of reactive oxygen species and/or lipoxygenases on polyunsaturated fatty acid containing lipids. The downstream products are oxidised phospholipids, bioactive aldehydes and a range of Schiff base by-products between aldehydes and lipids, or other biomacromolecules. In this review we assess the impact of oxidative stress on lipid membranes, focusing on the changes that occur to the curvature preference (lipid spontaneous curvature) and elastic properties of membranes, since these biophysical properties modulate phospholipid homeostasis. Studies show that the lipid products of oxidative stress reduce stored curvature elastic energy in membranes. Based upon this observation, we hypothesize that the effects of oxidative stress on lipid membranes will be reduced by compounds that increase stored curvature elastic energy. We find a strong correlation appears across literature studies that we have reviewed, such that many compounds like vitamin E, Curcumin, Coenzyme Q10 and vitamin A show behaviour consistent with this hypothesis. Finally, we consider whether age-related changes in lipid composition represent the homeostatic response of cells to compensate for the accumulation of in vivo lipid oxidation products.

Lipid monolayer spontaneous curvatures: A collection of published values

Lipid monolayer spontaneous curvatures (or lipid intrinsic curvatures) are one of several material properties of lipids that enable the stored curvature elastic energy in a lipid aggregate to be determined. Stored curvature elastic energy is important since it can modulate the function of membrane proteins and plays a role in the regulatory pathways of phospholipid homeostasis. Due to the large number of different lipid molecules that might theoretically exist in nature, very few lipid spontaneous curvatures have been determined. Herein the values of lipid spontaneous curvatures that exist in the literature are collected, alongside key experimental details. Where possible, trends in the data are discussed and finally, obvious gaps in the knowledge are signposted.

Cell Cycle Dependent Modulation of Membrane Dipole Potential and Neurotransmitter Receptor Activity: Role of Membrane Cholesterol

The cell cycle is a sequential multistep process essential for growth and proliferation of cells that make up multicellular organisms. A number of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins are known to modulate the cell cycle. Yet, the role of lipids, membrane organization, and physical properties in cell cycle progression remains largely elusive. Membrane dipole potential is an important physicochemical property and originates due to the electrostatic potential difference within the membrane because of nonrandom arrangement of amphiphile dipoles and water molecules at the membrane interface. In this work, we explored the modulation of membrane dipole potential in various stages of the cell cycle in CHO-K1 cells. Our results show that membrane dipole potential is highest in the G1 phase relative to S and G2/M phases. This was accompanied by regulation of membrane cholesterol content in the cell cycle. The highest cholesterol content was found in the G1 phase with a considerable reduction in cholesterol in S and G2/M phases. Interestingly, we noted a similarity in the dependence of membrane dipole potential and cholesterol with progress of the cell cycle. In addition, we observed an increase in neutral lipid (which contains esterified cholesterol) content as cells progressed from the G1 to G2/M phase via the S phase of the cell cycle. Importantly, we further observed a cell cycle dependent reduction in ligand binding activity of serotonin_1A receptors expressed in CHO-K1 cells. To the best of our knowledge, these results constitute the first report of cell cycle dependent modulation of membrane dipole potential and activity of a neurotransmitter receptor belonging to the G protein-coupled receptor family. We envision that understanding the basis of cell cycle events from a biophysical perspective would result in a deeper appreciation of the cell cycle and its regulation in relation to cellular function.

Cell stage appears critical for control of plasma membrane order in plant cells

Lipids and proteins modulate both the global order of plasma membrane (PM) and its organization in distinct domains. This raises the question of the influence on PM-ordered domain formation of PM composition, which is finely controlled during cell differentiation. Labeling of plant cell PM with an environment-sensitive probe demonstrated that the level of PM order is regulated during anisotropic expansion observed during both cell regeneration from protoplasts and cell differentiation along the growing root. Indeed, PM order progressively decreased during the polarized growth of regenerated tobacco cells, without observed correlation between this parameter and the kinetics of either cell wall regeneration or cell morphology. This suggests that the dynamics of PM formation and renewal could control the PM organization, maybe by involving the secretory pathway.

Cell-cycle-dependences of membrane permeability and viability observed for HeLa cells undergoing multi-bubble-cell interactions

Microbubble-mediated sonoporation is a promising strategy for intracellular gene/drug delivery, but the biophysical mechanisms involved in the interactions between microbubbles and cells are not well understood. Here, HeLa cells were synchronized in individual cycle phases, then the cell-cycle-dependences of the membrane permeability and viability of HeLa cells undergoing multi-bubble sonoporation were evaluated using focused ultrasound exposure apparatus coupled passive cavitation detection system. The results indicated that: (1) the microbubble cavitation activity should be independent on cell cycle phases; (2) G₁-phase cells with the largest Young's modulus were the most robust against microbubble-mediated sonoporation; (3) G₂/M-phase cells exhibited the greatest accumulated FITC uptake with the lowest viability, which should be mainly attributed to the chemical effect of synchronization drugs; and (4) more important, S-phase cells with the lowest stiffness seemed to be the most susceptible to the mechanical effect generated by microbubble cavitation activity, which resulted in the greatest enhancement in sonoporation-facilitated membrane permeabilization without further scarifying their viability. The current findings may benefit ongoing efforts aiming to pursue rational utilization of microbubble-mediated sonoporation in cell-cycle-targeted gene/drug delivery for cancer therapy.

Cell-cycle-specific Cellular Responses to Sonoporation

Microbubble-mediated sonoporation has shown its great potential in facilitating intracellular uptake of gene/drugs and other therapeutic agents that are otherwise difficult to enter cells. However, the biophysical mechanisms underlying microbubble-cell interactions remain unclear. Particularly, it is still a major challenge to get a comprehensive understanding of the impact of cell cycle phase on the cellular responses simultaneously occurring in cell membrane and cytoskeleton induced by microbubble sonoporation. Methods: Here, efficient synchronizations were performed to arrest human cervical epithelial carcinoma (HeLa) cells in individual cycle phases. The, topography and stiffness of synchronized cells were examined using atomic force microscopy. The variations in cell membrane permeabilization and cytoskeleton arrangement induced by sonoporation were analyzed simultaneously by a real-time fluorescence imaging system. Results: The results showed that G1-phase cells typically had the largest height and elastic modulus, while S-phase cells were generally the flattest and softest ones. Consequently, the S-Phase was found to be the preferred cycle for instantaneous sonoporation treatment, due to the greatest enhancement of membrane permeability and the fastest cytoskeleton disassembly at the early stage after sonoporation. Conclusion: The current findings may benefit ongoing efforts aiming to pursue rational utilization of microbubble-mediated sonoporation in cell cycle-targeted gene/drug delivery for cancer therapy.

Mammalian phospholipid homeostasis: evidence that membrane curvature elastic stress drives homeoviscous adaptation in vivo

Several theories of phospholipid homeostasis have postulated that cells regulate the molecular composition of their bilayer membranes, such that a common biophysical membrane parameter is under homeostatic control. Two commonly cited theories are the intrinsic curvature hypothesis, which states that cells control membrane curvature elastic stress, and the theory of homeoviscous adaptation, which postulates cells control acyl chain packing order (membrane order). In this paper, we present evidence from data-driven modelling studies that these two theories correlate in vivo. We estimate the curvature elastic stress of mammalian cells to be 4-7 × 10(-12) N, a value high enough to suggest that in mammalian cells the preservation of membrane order arises through a mechanism where membrane curvature elastic stress is controlled. These results emerge from analysing the molecular contribution of individual phospholipids to both membrane order and curvature elastic stress in nearly 500 cellular compositionally diverse lipidomes. Our model suggests that the de novo synthesis of lipids is the dominant mechanism by which cells control curvature elastic stress and hence membrane order in vivo These results also suggest that cells can increase membrane curvature elastic stress disproportionately to membrane order by incorporating polyunsaturated fatty acids into lipids.

Do lipids shape the eukaryotic cell cycle?

Successful passage through the cell cycle presents a number of structural challenges to the cell. Inceptive studies carried out in the last five years have produced clear evidence of modulations in the lipid profile (sometimes referred to as the lipidome) of eukaryotes as a function of the cell cycle. This mounting body of evidence indicates that lipids play key roles in the structural transformations seen across the cycle. The accumulation of this evidence coincides with a revolution in our understanding of how lipid composition regulates a plethora of biological processes ranging from protein activity through to cellular signalling and membrane compartmentalisation. In this review, we discuss evidence from biological, chemical and physical studies of the lipid fraction across the cell cycle that demonstrate that lipids are well-developed cellular components at the heart of the biological machinery responsible for managing progress through the cell cycle. Furthermore, we discuss the mechanisms by which this careful control is exercised.

Membrane cholesterol is essential for triterpenoid saponin augmentation of a saporin-based immunotoxin directed against CD19 on human lymphoma cells

Triterpenoid saponins from Saponinum Album (SA) exert potent lytic effects on eukaryotic cell plasma membranes and, when used at sub-lytic concentrations, significantly augment the cytotoxicity of saporin-based immunotoxins (IT). To help elucidate the mechanism(s) behind these two phenomena we investigated the role of cholesterol to both. Human Daudi lymphoma cells were lipid deprived using a combination of three different approaches. Following treatment, the total cellular lipid content was analyzed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and plasma membrane (PM) cholesterol content measured using the lipophilic fluorescent probe NR12S. Maximal lipid deprivation of cells resulted in a complete loss of sensitivity to lysis by SA. Similarly augmentation of the anti-CD19 immunotoxin (IT) BU12-SAPORIN by SA was lost but without a concomitant loss of intrinsic IT cytotoxicity. The lytic activity of SA was restored following incubation of lipid deprived Daudi cells with Synthecol or LDL. The augmentative effect of SA on IT cytotoxicity for Daudi cells was restored following repletion of PM cholesterol levels with LDL. NR12S fluorescence and ESI-MS analysis of cellular lipids demonstrated that restoration of SA lytic activity by Synthecol was entirely due to increased PM cholesterol levels. Restoration of cellular and PM cholesterol levels by LDL also restored the augmentative effect of SA for IT, an effect associated with repletion of PM cholesterol with minor changes in some phospholipid species. These results indicate that the lytic and IT augmentative properties of SA are cholesterol-dependent in contrast to intrinsic IT cytotoxicity that is at least partially cholesterol independent.

Lipid Spontaneous Curvatures Estimated from Temperature-Dependent Changes in Inverse Hexagonal Phase Lattice Parameters: Effects of Metal Cations

Recently we reported a method for estimating the spontaneous curvatures of lipids from temperature-dependent changes in the lattice parameter of inverse hexagonal liquid crystal phases of binary lipid mixtures. This method makes use of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE) as a host lipid, which preferentially forms an inverse hexagonal phase to which a guest lipid of unknown spontaneous curvature is added. The lattice parameters of these binary lipid mixtures are determined by small-angle X-ray diffraction at a range of temperatures and the spontaneous curvature of the guest lipid is determined from these data. Here we report the use of this method on a wide range of lipids under different ionic conditions. We demonstrate that our method provides spontaneous curvature values for DOPE, cholesterol, and monoolein that are within the range of values reported in the literature. Anionic lipids 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphatidic acid (DOPA) and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphoserine (DOPS) were found to exhibit spontaneous curvatures that depend on the concentration of divalent cations present in the mixtures. We show that the range of curvatures estimated experimentally for DOPA and DOPS can be explained by a series of equilibria arising from lipid-cation exchange reactions. Our data indicate a universal relationship between the spontaneous curvature of a lipid and the extent to which it affects the lattice parameter of the hexagonal phase of DOPE when it is part of a binary mixture. This universal relationship affords a rapid way of estimating the spontaneous curvatures of lipids that are expensive, only available in small amounts, or are of limited chemical stability.

Is phosphatidylglycerol essential for terrestrial life?

Lipids are of increasing importance in understanding biological systems. Lipids carrying an anionic charge are noted in particular for their electrostatic interactions with both proteins and divalent cations. However, the biological, analytical, chemical and biophysical data of such species are rarely considered together, limiting our ability to assess the true role of such lipids in vivo. In this review, evidence from a range of studies about the lipid phosphatidylglycerol is considered. This evidence supports the conclusions that this lipid is ubiquitous in living systems and generally of low abundance but probably fundamental for terrestrial life. Possible reasons for this are discussed and further questions posed.

Effects of Lipid Composition on Bilayer Membranes Quantified by All-Atom Molecular Dynamics

Biological bilayer membranes typically contain varying amounts of lamellar and nonlamellar lipids. Lamellar lipids, such as dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC), are defined by their tendency to form the lamellar phase, ubiquitous in biology. Nonlamellar lipids, such as dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE), prefer instead to form nonlamellar phases, which are mostly nonbiological. However, nonlamellar lipids mix with lamellar lipids in biomembrane structures that remain overall lamellar. Importantly, changes in the lamellar vs nonlamellar lipid composition are believed to affect membrane function and modulate membrane proteins. In this work, we employ atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to quantify how a range of bilayer properties are altered by variations in the lamellar vs nonlamellar lipid composition. Specifically, we simulate five DOPC/DOPE bilayers at mixing ratios of 1/0, 3/1, 1/1, 1/3, and 0/1. We examine properties including lipid area and bilayer thickness, as well as the transmembrane profiles of electron density, lateral pressure, electric field, and dipole potential. While the bilayer structure is only marginally altered by lipid composition changes, dramatic effects are observed for the lateral pressure, electric field, and dipole potential profiles. Possible implications for membrane function are discussed.

E. coli MG1655 modulates its phospholipid composition through the cell cycle

This paper describes a study of the phospholipid profile of Escherichia coli MG1655 cultures at the B and D periods of the cell cycle. The results indicate that the phosphatidyl glycerol fraction grows relatively rapidly and that the size of the cardiolipin (CL) fraction does not grow at all during cell elongation. This is consistent with observations that CL is located preferentially at the poles of E. coli. It also suggests that lipid production is controlled as a function of the cell cycle.

Differential dependencies on [Ca2+] and temperature of the monolayer spontaneous curvatures of DOPE, DOPA and cardiolipin: effects of modulating the strength of the inter-headgroup repulsion

Biomembranes assume nonlamellar structures in many cellular events, with the tendency of forming a nonlamellar structure quantified by the monolayer spontaneous curvature, C(0), and with many of these events involving the acts of Ca(2+). Despite this biologically important intimacy, how C(0) is affected by [Ca(2+)] is unknown. In this study, we use the X-ray diffraction technique and the reconstruction of electron density profiles to measure the C(0)s of a zwitterionic phospholipid, DOPE, and two anionic phospholipids, DOPA and 18 : 1 (9Z) cardiolipin, at temperatures from 20 °C to 40 °C and [Ca(2+)]s from 0 mM to 100 mM; these phospholipids are chosen to examine the contributions of the electric charge density per molecule. While showing a strong dependence on temperature, C(0,DOPE) is nearly independent of [Ca(2+)]. In contrast, C(0,DOPA) and C(0),cardiolipin are almost unresponsive to the temperature change but affected by the [Ca(2+)] variation; and C(0,DOPA) varies with [Ca(2+)] ∼1.5 times more strongly than C(0,cardiolipin), with the phase preferences of DOPA and cardiolipin shifting to the H(II) phase and remaining on the Lα phase, respectively, at [Ca(2+)] = 100 mM. From these observations, we reveal the effects of modulating the strength of the inter-headgroup repulsion and discuss the mechanisms underlying the phase behaviour and cellular functions of the investigated phospholipids. Most importantly, this study recognizes that the headgroup charge density is dominant in dictating the phase behaviour of the anionic phospholipids, and that the unique molecular characteristics of cardiolipin are critically needed both for maintaining the structural integrity of cardiolipin-rich biomembranes and for fulfilling the biological roles of the phospholipid.

Formation of inverse topology lyotropic phases in dioleoylphosphatidylcholine/oleic acid and dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine/oleic acid binary mixtures

The addition of saturated fatty acids (FA) to phosphatidylcholine lipids (PC) that have saturated acyl chains has been shown to promote the formation of lyotropic liquid-crystalline phases with negative mean curvature. PC/FA mixtures may exhibit inverse bicontinuous cubic phases (Im3m, Pn3m) or inverse topology hexagonal phases (HII), depending on the length of the acyl chains/fatty acid. Here we report a detailed study of the phase behavior of binary mixtures of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC)/oleic acid (OA) and dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE)/oleic acid at limiting hydration, constructed using small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXD) data. The phase diagrams of both systems show a succession of phases with increasing negative mean curvature with increasing OA content. At high OA concentrations, we have observed the occurrence of an inverse micellar Fd3m phase in both systems. Hitherto, this phase had not been reported for phosphatidylethanolamine/fatty acid mixtures, and as such it highlights an additional route through which fatty acids may increase the propensity of bilayer lipid membranes to curve. We also propose a method that uses the temperature dependence of the lattice parameters of the HII phases to estimate the spontaneous radii of curvature (R0) of the binary mixtures and of the component lipids. Using this method, we calculated the R0 values of the complexes comprising one phospholipid molecule and two fatty acid molecules, which have been postulated to drive the formation of inverse phases in PL/FA mixtures. These are -1.8 nm (±0.4 nm) for DOPC(OA)2 and -1.1 nm (±0.1 nm) for DOPE(OA)2. R0 values estimated in this way allow the quantification of the contribution that different lipid species make to membrane curvature elastic properties and hence of their effect on the function of membrane-bound proteins.

A lipidomics investigation of the induced hypoxia stress on HeLa cells by using MS and NMR techniques

Induced hypoxia stress on cervical cancer derived cells (HeLa cells) leads to significant changes in their membrane lipid profiles. The lipidome of HeLa cells was characterized by a joint approach wherein liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis was followed by high resolution NMR measurements. Multivariate data analysis showed apparent separation between control and hypoxia-treated HeLa cells and thus demonstrated hypoxia effects on lipid metabolism. The most striking finding was that hypoxia stimulation significantly reduced the total amount of cellular phosphoinositols (PI) but caused a prominent increase in the amount of lyso phosphocholines (lyso-PC) and lyso phosphoethanolamines (lyso-PE). The observed decrease of PI amount under hypoxic conditions is probably due to the accumulation of cellular myo-inositol, which is known to play a critical role in de novo synthesis of PI. Moreover, our study suggests that polyunsaturated phospholipid species are stronger biomarkers for discriminating the effect of hypoxia treatment. The evaluation of changes in the average unsaturation index (UI) of the membrane lipids acyl chains reveals that UI slightly increases in several lipid classes, thus affecting membrane fluidity and further membrane-dependent functions. The plausible mechanisms by which HeLa cells adapt to hypoxia conditions are also briefly reported.

Introductory lecture: basic quantities in model biomembranes

One of the many aspects of membrane biophysics dealt with in this Faraday Discussion regards the material moduli that describe energies at a supramolecular level. This introductory lecture first critically reviews differences in reported numerical values of the bending modulus K(C), which is a central property for the biologically important flexibility of membranes. It is speculated that there may be a reason that the shape analysis method tends to give larger values of K(C) than the micromechanical manipulation method or the more recent X-ray method that agree very well with each other. Another theme of membrane biophysics is the use of simulations to provide exquisite detail of structures and processes. This lecture critically reviews the application of atomic level simulations to the quantitative structure of simple single component lipid bilayers and diagnostics are introduced to evaluate simulations. Another theme of this Faraday Discussion was lateral heterogeneity in biomembranes with many different lipids. Coarse grained simulations and analytical theories promise to synergistically enhance experimental studies when their interaction parameters are tuned to agree with experimental data, such as the slopes of experimental tie lines in ternary phase diagrams. Finally, attention is called to contributions that add relevant biological molecules to bilayers and to contributions that study the exciting shape changes and different non-bilayer structures with different lipids.