A Molecular Toolkit for Highly Insulating Tethered Bilayer Lipid Membranes on Various Substrates

Tethered bilayer lipid membranes (tBLMs) are promising model architectures that mimic the structure and function of natural biomembranes. They provide a fluid, stable, and electrically sealing platform for the study of membrane related processes, specifically, the function of incorporated membrane proteins. This paper presents a generic approach toward the synthesis of functional tBLMs adapted for application to various surfaces. The central element of a tethered membrane consists of a lipid bilayer. Its proximal layer is covalently attached via a spacer unit to a solid support, either gold or silicon oxide. The membranes are characterized optically by using surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPR) or ellipsometry and electrically by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The bilayer membranes obtained show high electrical barrier properties and can be used to incorporate and study small membrane proteins in a functional form.