Temperature stability of protomembrane model vesicles by SANS
The proposal aims at characterizing the stability of single chain amphiphile vesicles as model membranes for a protocell (prebiotic living form). This model consists in a bilayer of mid-chain fatty acid molecules along with fatty alcohols of equal chain length, with a hydrocarbon molecule inserted between the layers. The addition of such intercalating agent in the mid-plane of the bilayer is expected to modify its physical characteristics, e.g. the membrane rigidity, permeability and overall stability. If proven, these effects will have natural impacts on the possible strategies put in place by the first living systems to maintain and protect the biological functions of its boundaries. Previous DLS/SLS and DSC data indicated a threshold temperature (55°C), above which the single chain vesicles (lacking the hydrocarbon) become unstable and undergo a macroscopic phase separation. Following the kinetics of both vesicle size/polydispersity (low q) and unilamellarity (high q), the functional consequences of the hydrocarbon presence will be assessed. The study of our model can help today's science to understand how the first forms of life resisted to the harsh early Earth's conditions.
Please note that you will need to login with your ILL credentials to download the data.
Download DataThe recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is in the following format:
MISURACA Loreto; DEME Bruno; GRILLO Isabelle; Phil Oger and PETERS Judith. (2018). Temperature stability of protomembrane model vesicles by SANS. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-13-788
ILL has partnered with DataCite as the registration agency
for data persistent identifiers.