Bacterial lipoteichoic-acid (LTA) micelles: From molecular self-assembly to mediating septic shocks

Whilst the biological effect of lipoteichoic-acid (LTA) contributing to bacterial infections is widely reported in microbiological and immunological studies, very little is understood on a physicochemical level; for instance, the amphiphilic nature of LTA would drive its self-assembly into different aggregates such as micelles and liposomes, which would be directly relevant to how it mediates interactions with biological surfaces, biofilm formation, and consequent septic shocks. We propose a first SANS study of the self-assembled structure (size, shape, and aggregation number) of LTA micelles (with a reported critical micelle concentration ~ 2-5 µg ml-1) extracted from Bacillus Subtilis at different concentrations (2-1000 µg ml-1) and temperatures (25-45 oC), as well as different ionic strengths using mono-/di-/tri-valent cations.