Use of Membrane Potential to Achieve Transmembrane Modification with an Artificial Receptor.

We developed a strategy to modify cell membranes with an artificial transmembrane receptor. Coulomb force on the receptor, caused by the membrane potential, was used to achieve membrane penetration. A hydrophobically modified cationic peptide was used as a membrane potential sensitive region that was connected to biotin through a transmembrane oligoethylene glycol (OEG) chain. This artificial receptor gradually disappeared from the cell membrane via penetration despite the presence of a hydrophilic OEG chain. However, when the receptor was bound to streptavidin (SA), it remained on the cell membrane because of the large and hydrophilic nature of SA.