Preparation and properties of giant plasma membrane vesicles and giant unilamellar vesicles from natural membranes

Although synthetic membranes recapitulate many of the core features of biological membranes, several aspects are not fully represented. Most significantly, neither the lipid complexity of natural membranes, nor their protein content and diversity can be reproduced in synthetic models. In recent years, inherent cellular processes that lead to large, intact plasma membrane vesicles have been used to produce intermediate model systems, bridging the experimental flexibility and tractability of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with the complexity of cellular membranes. This chapter describes the most widely used system of this type—giant plasma membrane vesicles (GPMVs)—focusing on isolation, properties, uses, and comparisons to alternative synthetic and natural models. The Chapter also describes methods to isolate lipids from natural sources, including GPMVs, for reconstitution of complex lipid mixtures into GUVs or other synthetic membrane systems.