RECONSTITUTION OF FUNCTIONAL ELECTRON-TRANSFER BETWEEN MEMBRANE BIOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN A 2-DIMENSIONAL LIPIDIC STRUCTURE AT THE ELECTRODE INTERFACE

These studies develop a methodology to form supported phospholipid bil ayers at an electrode/solution interface that models biological membra ne systems. Two kinds of electrode were used, a planar gold electrode and a microporous aluminium oxide electrode on which octadecanethiol o r octadecyltrichlorosilane was self-assembled. The supported lipidic s tructures were produced by transfer of a phospholipid monolayer by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique or by direct fusion of phospholipid vesic les. Ubiquinone was introduced into the lipidic structures during thei r formation; electrochemical measurements demonstrated the mobility of ubiquinone along the plane of the bilayer. A membrane enzyme, pyruvat e oxidase from E. coli, was successfully incorporated into this artifi cial bilayer and was found to be able to exchange electrons with ubiqu inone present in the bilayer.