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Publication: Stearic acid spin labels in lipid bilayers: Insight through atomistic simulations

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Title Stearic acid spin labels in lipid bilayers: Insight through atomistic simulations
Authors/Editors* Tomasz Róg, Lorna Stimson, Lei Dong, Anna Wisniewska, Magorzata Dutka, Mikko Karttunen
Where published* J. Phys. Chem. B
How published* Journal
Year* 2007
Volume 111
Number 12447-12453
Pages
Publisher
Keywords molecular dynamics, spin labels, flip-flop, membranes, proteins
Link http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp0746796
Abstract
Spin labeled stearic acid species are commonly used for electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies of cell membranes to investigate phase transitions, fluidity and other physical properties. In this paper, we use large scale molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the position and behavior of nitroxide spin labels attached to stearic acid molecules in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers. The results of these studies are potentially very important for the interpretation of EPR spectra, which rely on assumptions about the position of the label in the membrane. Additionally we investigate the effect of chirality and ionization of the carboxyl group of the label. For a non-ionized species, we observe that spin label molecules are even able to make flip-flop transitions between the leaflets of the bilayer. Such transitions have been previously observed only in very rare cases in molecular simulations.
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