The effect of bilayer rigidity on the interactions with perfluoroalkyl compounds

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are used extensively in industrial products although have been identified as emerging pollutants accumulating in wildlife and environment. PFASs exhibit different uptake behavior in plants compared to worms and since it has been established that they aggregate in lipid-rich tissues, it is important to investigate the dependence of their interactions with different types of lipid that form cell membranes. As the first part of this project, we have studied the interaction of a wide range of perfluoroalkyl substances with saturated phospholipid, DMPC, as a simple model system for biological interfaces. The new experiment aims to study the interaction of PFASs with an unsaturated lipid, DOPC, which forms a softer bilayer and understand to what extent the rigidity and ordering of the bilayer can affect the interactions and incorporation of PFASs.