S. Grenier et al., EVALUATION OF MEMBRANE PENETRATION DEPTH UTILIZING FLUORESCENCE QUENCHING BY DOXYLATED FATTY-ACIDS, Langmuir, 14(16), 1998, pp. 4643-4649
In this paper, we have attempted to evaluate the depth of penetration
of doxylated fatty acids in lipid vesicles and estimate the location o
f fluorophores in these model membrane systems. The fluorescence emiss
ion from the tryptophan residue in a transmembrane peptide is used as
the fluorophore in this experiment, and fluorescence quenching results
have been used to evaluate the depth of penetration of the doxylated
fatty acids. Our results show that the peptides are partially bound to
the surface of the membrane and the rest very likely are located with
their tryptophan residues at the center of the bilayer. Detailed stud
ies demonstrate that these doxylated fatty acid probes are efficient a
nd excellent in locating the position of the tryptophan residues.