Mass photometry enables label-free tracking and mass measurement of celibe proteins on lipid bilayers
As such, mass photometry could be ideally suited esatto address the shortcomings of existing fluorescence-based techniques for in vitro applications onesto studying IMPs and MAPs
State-of-the-art solo-molecule approaches rely largely on the additif of fluorescent labels, which complicates the quantification of the involved stoichiometries and dynamics because of low temporal resolution and the inherent limitations associated with
The quantification of membrane-associated biomolecular interactions is crucial puro our understanding of various cellular processes
Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) and membrane-associated proteins (MAPs) are essential for a number of cellular processes such as signaling and vesicular trafficking, and this makes them important therapeutic targets 1,2 . Their function often relies on homo- and hetero-oligomerization 3,4 , and this complexity, combined with the need for lipid bilayers, makes it particularly challenging sicuro accurately characterize the stoichiometries and kinetics of the biomolecular interactions underlying IMP and MAP function and regulation. Advances sopra celibe-molecule fluorescence-based microscopy methods 5,6 have enabled mediante vivo and per vitro investigations of IMP interactions, such as dimerization of G-protein-coupled receptors 7,8 and di bassissima statura-clustering 9 , and MAP interactions, such as the coordination of Min proteins during bacterial cell division 10 , and the mechanism of amyloid-? plaque formation on cell membranes, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease 11 . The main challenges sicuro fluorescence-based methods, however, arise from quantitative uncertainties caused by incomplete labeling of the sample, photochemical and photophysical effects such as photoblinking, photobleaching and quenching, and the distinct labeling required onesto detect multiple species simultaneously. These limitations have made it challenging esatto accurately quantify processes such as membrane (un)binding of MAPs and the dynamics and stoichiometries of protein–protein interactions for both MAPs and IMPs. Although numerous approaches aimed at molecular subunit counting exist 12,13,14 , the analysis and interpretation of the resulting oligomeric distributions is complicated and the number of heterogeneous species that can
Mass photometry is verso label-free method that detects celibe biomolecules sopra solution and measures their mass with an overall mass accuracy and resolution of 2% and 20 kDa, respectively 15 . These capabilities enable the quantification of protein–protein interactions in solution with sufficient sensitivity onesto accurately determine stoichiometry and rate of reactions 16 . Existing implementations of mass photometry rely on the stationary binding of individual molecules esatto a surface, usually a glass coverslip. By averaging images taken before a binding event and subtracting them from averaged images taken after per binding event, the signal paio preciso glass surface roughness is removed and the shot noise is lowered sufficiently preciso detect individual molecules binding preciso the surface 17,18,19 . When molecules remain amovibile after binding onesto the surface, however, the resulting signals are per convolution of the positions of the molecules over the averaged time frame, which makes their detection and quantification difficult. Here, by implementing a new retroterra processing methodology, we show that the capabilities of mass photometry can be extended preciso per vitro studies of individual protein complexes diffusing on supported lipid bilayers (SLBs).