Complex Structural Examination of Protein–Lipid Interactions with Neutron Scattering Techniques

Mahmoudi, N; Johnston, H; Ayscough, SE; Hall, S; Wacklin-Knecht, H; Knowles, TJ; Paracini, N; Cardenas, M; Grobner, G; Lakey, J; Heinrich, F; Clifton, LA

doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-5054-7_11

Complex Structural Examination of Protein–Lipid Interactions with Neutron Scattering Techniques

Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Jeremy Lakey

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Abstract

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2026.Neutron scattering has significant benefits for examining the structure of protein–lipid complexes. Cold neutrons are non-damaging and predominantly interact with the atomic nucleus, meaning that neutron beams can penetrate deeply into samples, which allows for flexibility in the design of samples studied. Components within a complex can be individually resolved by leveraging the strong difference in neutron scattering length between protium (H1, 99.984% natural abundance) and deuterium (H2 or D, 0.016%) namely through the mixing of H2O and D2O in the samples or by the deuterium labelling of the biomolecules. Thus, the relative distribution of components within a membrane can be elucidated. Using neutron scattering techniques lipid–protein complexes are most commonly studied using neutron reflectometry (NR) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). In this review, the methodologies to produce and examine a variety of model biological membrane systems using SANS and NR are detailed. These systems include supported lipid bilayers derived from vesicle dispersions or Langmuir–Blodgett deposition, tethered and floating bilayer systems, membrane protein–lipid complexes, and polymer wrapped lipid nanodiscs. The three key stages of any SANS/NR study on model membrane systems—sample preparation, data collection, and analysis—are described together with some background on the techniques themselves.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Mahmoudi N, Johnston H, Ayscough SE, Hall S, Wacklin-Knecht H, Knowles TJ, Paracini N, Cardenas M, Grobner G, Lakey J, Heinrich F, Clifton LA

Publication type: Book Chapter

Publication status: Published

Book Title: Lipid-Protein Interactions

Year: 2026

Volume: 3001

Pages: 189-247

Online publication date: 20/05/2026

Acceptance date: 02/04/2018

Series Title: Methods in Molecular Biology

Publisher: Humana Press Inc.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-5054-7_11

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-5054-7_11