Rapid purification of giant lipid vesicles by microfiltration

PLoS One. 2018 Feb 16;13(2):e0192975. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192975. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Giant lipid vesicles (GVs) are emerging models for investigating the properties and reactivity of cell-like microcompartments, providing useful information about plausible protocellular structures in primitive times, as well as for the modern synthetic biology goal of constructing the first artificial cell from its reconstituted and partly modified components. Here we explore a novel methodology of GV purification by microfiltration under reduced pressure, operated by a simple apparatus. The method has been characterized in terms of flow rate, amount of lipid loss, quality of recovered GVs, and size distribution. A case study is reported to show the practicability of GV microfiltration. A clickable fluorescent probe was encapsulated inside GVs; more than 99.9% of the non-entrapped probe was easily and rapidly removed by multiple microfiltrations. This novel methodology is briefly discussed as a future tool for selection experiments on GV populations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Filtration / methods*
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
  • Lipids / isolation & purification*
  • Liposomes / chemistry*
  • Micropore Filters*
  • Unilamellar Liposomes / isolation & purification*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Lipids
  • Liposomes
  • Unilamellar Liposomes

Grants and funding

This work was carried out and developed within and thanks to the European COST Action CM1304 “Emergence and Evolution of Complex Chemical Systems” (COST-STSM-CM1304-34406). Co-funding from the Volkswagen Foundation (grant no. 92 850) is gratefully acknowledged.