PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kim, Young Hun
AU  - Leriche, Geoffray
AU  - Diraviyam, Karthik
AU  - Koyanagi, Takaoki
AU  - Gao, Kaifu
AU  - Onofrei, David
AU  - Patterson, Joseph
AU  - Guha, Anirvan
AU  - Gianneschi, Nathan
AU  - Holland, Gregory P.
AU  - Gilson, Michael K.
AU  - Mayer, Michael
AU  - Sept, David
AU  - Yang, Jerry
TI  - Entropic effects enable life at extreme temperatures
AID  - 10.1126/sciadv.aaw4783
DP  - 2019 May 01
TA  - Science Advances
PG  - eaaw4783
VI  - 5
IP  - 5
4099  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/5/eaaw4783.short
4100  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/5/eaaw4783.full
SO  - Sci Adv2019 May 01; 5
AB  - Maintaining membrane integrity is a challenge at extreme temperatures. Biochemical synthesis of membrane-spanning lipids is one adaptation that organisms such as thermophilic archaea have evolved to meet this challenge and preserve vital cellular function at high temperatures. The molecular-level details of how these tethered lipids affect membrane dynamics and function, however, remain unclear. Using synthetic monolayer-forming lipids with transmembrane tethers, here, we reveal that lipid tethering makes membrane permeation an entropically controlled process that helps to limit membrane leakage at elevated temperatures relative to bilayer-forming lipid membranes. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations support a view that permeation through membranes made of tethered lipids reduces the torsional entropy of the lipids and leads to tighter lipid packing, providing a molecular interpretation for the increased transition-state entropy of leakage.