The Giant Liposomes from Zwitterionic and Negative Charged Lipids Which Contains Inside Small Unilamellar Vesicles as Model for Nuclear Pore Assembly, Gene Regulation and Origin of Life

Nearly 40 years of investigation of ternary complexes (TC): zwitterionic liposomes-DNA-Mg²⁺ led us to the idea participating of TC in the first stage of assembly nuclear pore (NP): forming holes between two lipid bilayers (KuvichkinV.V., 2011, J. Membr. Biol.,241,109-116).

The task of this study was to select a system of zwitterionic liposomes with the addition other lipids, DNA and Mg²⁺ to create holes in a double lipid bilayer similar to NP but without proteins, which are basic constructional element in existing models of NP.

In this system, there are many places where TC is located close to the double lipid bilayer. One bilayer, there may be a bilayer of large unilamelar vesicle (LUV), the second bilayer of the LUV being (1-5) µm in diameter outside GUV. Liposomes of such size are more convenient to observe by visible microscopy. Using this method, we obtained the formation of short-term channels between the TC and the liposome outside of the GUV.

In addition, we observed the emissions of particles containing DNA from GUV, resulting in the movement of GUV on the distance at a multiple of their size. This indicates a high energy of fusion between TC and the lipid bilayer. Nuclear pores serve as sites of the initiation of transcriptions in a cell, because single-stranded DNA in annuli of nuclear pores is the best site of transcription initiation. Not all TC reach the nuclear membrane and turn into pores; many are located far from the nuclear envelope, but they also enhancing transcription. The TC can form aggregates that are the basis of “transcription factories”.

The role of movement of the GUV is observed along the surface of the microscope slide, as well as the movement of the liposomes inside the GUV in the absence of proteins in the origin of life and evolution is discussed.