Proteoliposomes in nanobiotechnology approaches

Seminar

Title: Proteoliposomes in nanobiotechnology approaches

Speaker: Pietro Ciancaglini

Affiliation: Depto. Química, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo (FFCLRP-USP), Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil

Host: Manuela M. Pereira - Biological Energy Transduction Lab

Abstract:

Proteoliposomes and liposomes are systems that mimic lipid membranes to which a protein could be either incorporated or inserted. During the last decade, these systems have gained prominence as tool for biophysical studies on lipid-protein (or peptide) interactions as well as for their nanobiotechnological applications. Proteoliposomes have a major advantage when compared with natural membrane systems, since they can be obtained with a smaller number of lipid (and protein) components, facilitating the design and interpretation of certain experiments. However, they have the disadvantage of requiring methodological standardization for incorporation of each specific protein, and the need to verify that the reconstitution procedure has yielded the correct orientation of the protein in the proteoliposome system with recovery of its functional activity. We chose two examples under study in our laboratory to exemplify the required steps for the standardization of nanotechnology approaches: (i) with GPI-protein and (ii) with integral membrane protein. We conclude that the tools frequently used in our lab are useful not just for the study of interactions between proteins or peptides with lipid membrane but they may have applications on producing more complex liposomes with great potential for biotechnology such as in the area of vaccines and nanosensors.