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The Effect of Fructan on Membrane Lipid Organization and Dynamics in the Dry State

Ingrid J. Vereyken ^*, Vladimir Chupin ^*, Folkert A. Hoekstra , Sjef C. M. Smeekens  and Ben de Kruijff ^*

^* Department Biochemistry of Membranes, CBLE, Institute of Biomembranes, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; Laboratory of Plant Physiology, The Graduate School "Experimental Plant Sciences", Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; and Department of Molecular Plant Physiology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Ingrid J. Vereyken, Dept. Biochemistry of Membranes, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. Fax: +31-30-2533969; E-mail: i.j.vereyken{at}chem.uu.nl.

Fructans are a group of fructose-based oligo- and polysaccharides, which appear to be involved in membrane preservation during dehydration by interacting with the membrane lipids. To get further understanding of the protective mechanism, the consequences of the fructan-membrane lipid interaction for the molecular organization and dynamics in the dry state were studied. POPC and DMPC were investigated in the dry state by ²H, ³¹P NMR, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy using two types of fructan and dextran. The order-disorder transition temperature of dry POPC was reduced by 70°C in the presence of fructan. Fructan increased the mobility of the acyl chains, but immobilized the lipid headgroup region. Most likely, fructans insert between the headgroups of lipids, thereby spacing the acyl chains. This results in a much lower phase transition temperature. The headgroup is immobilized by the interaction with fructan. The location of the interaction with the lipid headgroup is different for the inulin-type fructan compared to the levan-type fructan, since inulin shows interaction with the lipid phosphate group, whereas levan does not. Dextran did not influence the phase transition temperature of dry POPC showing that reduction of this temperature is not a general property of polysaccharides.

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