FIGURE 2.

Effect of 3AB protein reconstitution by controlled dilution into synthetic liposomes. A, cryo-electron micrographs of liposomes lacking 3AB protein. Arrows indicate vesicles that are enlarged ×2.5 in the inset. Scale bar = 200 nm. B, cryo-electron micrographs of reconstituted 3AB proteoliposomes. Arrows indicate vesicles that are enlarged ×2.5 in the inset. C, images of putative intermediates of double-membraned liposome formation after 3AB reconstitution. Scale bar = same as the insets in A and B. D, quantitation of the numbers of liposomes of single-, double-, and multilamellar topology in the absence and presence of 3AB protein is shown. The asterisk denotes a statistically significant difference. E, cumulative frequencies of vesicle diameters for single-, double-, and multilamellar liposomes reconstituted with buffer alone (▿) or with 3AB protein (●) are shown. Significant statistical differences between the diameters of liposomes and proteoliposomes for single-membraned vesicles (p < 0.1, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) and multilamellar vesicles were observed.