Title
Liprotides made of α-lactalbumin and cis Fatty Acids form core-shell and multi-layer structures with a common membrane-targeting mechanism
Author
Henriette S. Frislev, Christian M. Jessen, Cristiano L.P. Oliveira, Jan Skov Pedersen, Daniel E. Otzen
Year
2016
Journal
Biochimica et Biophysica (BBA)- Proteins and Proteomics
Abstract
α-Lactalbumin (aLA) has been shown to form complexes with oleic acid (OA), which may target cancer cells. We recently showed that aLA and several other proteins all form protein–OA complexes called liprotides with a generic structure consisting of a micellar OA core surrounded by a shell of partially denatured protein. Here we report that a heat treatment and an alkaline treatment method both allow us to prepare liprotide complexes composed of aLA and a range of unsaturated fatty acids (FA), provided the FAs containcis (but not trans) double bonds. All liprotides containing cis-FA form both small and large species, which all consist of partially denatured aLA, though the overall shape of the species differs. Small liprotides have a simple core–shell structure while the larger liprotides are multi-layered, i.e. they have an additional layer of both FA and aLA surrounding the outside of the core–shell structure. All liprotides can transfer their entire FA content to vesicles, releasing aLA as monomers and softening the lipid membrane. The more similar to OA, the more efficiently the different FAs induce hemolysis. We conclude that aLA can take up and transfer a wide variety of FA to membranes, provided they contain a cis-bond. This highlights liprotides as a general class of complexes where both protein and cis-FA component can be varied without departing from a generic (though sometimes multi-layered) core–shell structure.
Instrument
J-810
Keywords
Circular dichroism, Secondary structure, Biochemistry