Silica/Proteoliposomal Nanocomposite as a Potential Platform for Ion Channel Studies

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 27; no. 19; p. 6658
• Main Authors: Esquembre, Rocío, Renart, María Lourdes, Poveda, José Antonio, Mateo, C. Reyes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Binding sites; Biosensors; Cations; Fluorescence; Fluorescence spectroscopy; High-throughput screening; Immobilization; Information storage; Instrument industry; ion channel; Light scattering; Lipids; Membrane proteins; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; nanostructured materials; Photon correlation spectroscopy; Potassium; Potassium channels; Proteins; proteoliposomes; Quantum dots; Security systems; Selectivity; Signal transduction; Silica; Silica gel; silica-matrices; Sol-gel processes; Spectrum analysis; Stability; United States
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules27196658

The nanostructuration of solid matrices with lipid nanoparticles containing membrane proteins is a promising tool for the development of high-throughput screening devices. Here, sol-gel silica-derived nanocomposites loaded with liposome-reconstituted KcsA, a prokaryotic potassium channel, have been synthesized. The conformational and functional stability of these lipid nanoparticles before and after sol-gel immobilization have been characterized by using dynamic light scattering, and steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy methods. The lipid-reconstituted KcsA channel entrapped in the sol-gel matrix retained the conformational and stability changes induced by the presence of blocking or permeant cations in the buffer (associated with the conformation of the selectivity filter) or by a drop in the pH (associated with the opening of the activation gate of the protein). Hence, these results indicate that this novel device has the potential to be used as a screening platform to test new modulating drugs of potassium channels.