Multiple intermediates in the detergent-induced fusion of lipid vesicles

Detergent-induced vesicle interactions, critical for applications including virus inactivation, varies according to the detergent type and membrane composition, but the underlying mechanistic details remain underexplored. Here, we use a lipid mixing assay based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and single-vesicle characterization approaches to identify that sub-micron-sized vesicles are induced to fuse by the non-ionic detergent Triton-X-100. We demonstrate that the process is a multi-step mechanism, characterized by discrete values of FRET efficiency between membrane-embedded fluorophores, and involves permeabilization, vesicle docking, hemi-fusion and full lipid mixing at sub-solubilizing detergent concentrations. We also dissect the kinetics of vesicle fusion to surface-tethered vesicles using a label-free quartz-crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring approach, opening a platform for biotechnology applications. The presented strategies provide mechanistic insight into the dynamics of vesicle fusion and have implications for applications including drug delivery and sensor development where transport and manipulation of encapsulated cargo is essential. Detergent-induced membrane interactions are important for biotechnology applications but their mechanism is still not well understood. Here, sub-micron-sized vesicles are shown to fuse by a non-ionic detergent, involving permeabilization, vesicle docking, hemi-fusion, and full lipid mixing steps.