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Poly-L-Lysine-Induced Morphology Changes in Mixed Anionic/Zwitterionic and Neat Zwitterionic-Supported Phospholipid Bilayers

Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Andrew A. Gewirth, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801. Tel.: 217-333-8329; Fax: 217-333-2685; E-mail: agewirth{at}uiuc.edu.

Poly-L-lysine-induced morphological changes in liquid phase supported bilayers consisting of mixed anionic/zwitterionic and neat zwitterionic headgroup phospholipids were studied with atomic force microscopy and epifluorescence microscopy. Results obtained from these studies indicate that poly-L-lysine can induce domains, defects, and aggregate structures on both mixed bilayers and strictly zwitterionic bilayers. The structures formed on liquid phase supported bilayers were observed to be immobile from a timescale of 50 ms to several minutes. We propose that poly-L-lysine of sufficient length interacts with the mica substrate and phospholipids to create the stationary structures noted.