The adsorption of biological peptides and proteins at the oil/water interface. A potentially important but largely unexplored field

Abstract

This review focuses on some new techniques to study the behavior of peptides and proteins bound to oil droplets. We will show how model peptides e.g., amphipathic a helices (AaH) and amphipathic b strand (AβS) and some apolipoproteins adsorb to triacylglycerol (TAG) droplets and how they behave once adsorbed to the interface. While most of the studies described involve peptides and proteins at an oil/water interface, studies can also be carried out when the surface has been partially covered with phospholipids. This work is important because it examines biophysical changes that take place at lipid droplet interfaces and how this may relate to the metabolism of lipoproteins and lipid droplets. Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.