Synthetic Lipid Nanotubes: Contactless Stimulation and Control of Biomimetic Nanotubes by Calcium Ion Gradients (Small 21/2018)

In article number 1703541, Tatsiana Lobovkina and co-workers demonstrate that the application of a calcium ion gradient to the surface of a synthetic lipid nanotube induces movement of lipids in the direction of increasing calcium ion concentration, resulting in the formation of a membrane-filled prolate lipid aggregate. This “bulge” can be translated without direct physical contact, by moving a calcium ion source along the lipid nanotube. Here, an artistic interpretation of the bulge formation is depicted.