E. Berganza Eguiarte, M. Ebrahimkutty, S. Vasantham, C. Zhong, A. Wunsch, A. Navarrete, M. Galic, M. Hirtz

Nanoscale 13 (2021) 12642-12650

The curvature of lipid membranes plays a key role in many relevant biological processes such as membrane trafficking, vesicular budding or host-virus interactions. In-vitro studies on membrane curvature of simplified biomimetic models in the nanometer range are challenging, due to complicated nanofabrication processes. In this work, we propose a simple and low-cost platform for curvature sensitive protein screening, prepared through scanning probe lithography (SPL) methods, where lipid bilayer patches of different compositions can be multiplexed onto substrate areas with tailored local curvature. The desired curvature is imposed by anchoring nanoparticles of the desired size to the substrate prior to lithography. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate that a biosensor for positive membrane deformations derived from the BAR domain of Nadrin2 binds selectively to lipid patches patterned on substrates areas coated with 100 nm nanoparticles. The platform opens up a path for screening curvature-dependent protein-membrane interaction studies by providing a flexible and easy to prepare substrate with control over lipid composition and membrane curvature.