ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Effect of Ergosterol on the structural properties of lipid membranes composed of yeast phospholipid extracts

Abstract: Biological membranes are highly complex structures composed of hundreds of lipid species, making them difficult to study directly. To overcome this limitation, model membranes based on lipid extracts from Pichia pastoris (hPol) have been developed, closely reproducing the composition of native yeast membranes. In previous neutron diffraction studies, we observed that ergosterol induces a non-monotonic change in the bilayer spacing of hPol multilayers, suggesting a specific structural effect dependent on its concentration. Here, we propose neutron reflectometry (NR) experiments to determine with nanometric precision how ergosterol (dErg) and cholesterol (dChol) modulate the structure of supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) composed of hPol, hPC (the phosphatidylcholine fraction of hPol), and POPC. By comparing hPol/dErg with hPol/dChol systems, we aim to reveal sterol-specific effects relevant to yeast and mammalian membranes, while the hPC and POPC references will help disentangle the influence of lipid headgroups and acyl chain composition. The use of deuterated sterols provides optimal contrast for quantifying sterol incorporation and its effect on bilayer thickness and organization. The results will deepen our understanding of how ergosterol and cholesterol differentially modulate membrane structure and properties in biologically relevant, compositionally complex systems.

Principal Investigator: Dr Alessandra Luchini
Experimenter: Dr Nicolo Paracini
Experimenter: Mrs Brigida Romano
Local Contact: Dr Mario Campana

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610301

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2610301

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Alessandra Luchini et al; (2026): Effect of Ergosterol on the structural properties of lipid membranes composed of yeast phospholipid extracts, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610301

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.