Restriction of lipid motion in membranes triggered by β-sheet aggregation of the anti-apoptotic BH4 domain

Abstract

The regulative BH4 domain of human Bcl-2 protein exerts its anti-apoptic activity via the mitochondrion. In the present study, we investigated the molecular interactions of this domain with negatively charged liposomes mimicking the outer mitochondrial membrane. To model the overproduction of Bcl-2 found in cancer processes, we studied the impact of elevated concentrations of its regulative BH4 segment on these mitochondrial membranes from the peptide and lipid perspective. Combined solid state 2H-NMR and differential scanning calorimetry revealed the coexistence of small sized fluid and rigid membrane domains over a large temperature range, which is confirmed by 31P-NMR at 30 °C. The latter..