Trehalose Increases Freeze-Thaw Damage in Liposomes Containing Chloroplast Glycolipids.
Chloroplast thylakoids contain three classes of glycolipids, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG), and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG). We have investigated the stability of large unilamellar vesicles made from egg phosphatidylcholine (EPC) and different chloroplast glycolipids during freezing to -18 degreesC, as a function of the presence of three sugars: glucose, sucrose, or trehalose. Contrary to the situation in thylakoids, where cryoprotection increases from glucose < sucrose < trehalose, liposomes containing 50% DGDG showed the opposite behavior. In fact, carboxyfluorescein leakage increased over the control values (freezing in the absence of sugar) in the presence of trehalose. This effect was not seen in vesicles made from pure EPC, or a mixture of EPC and MGDG, or EPC and SQDG. Liposomes made from mixtures of all three glycolipids, however, showed even more leakage in the presence of trehalose than liposomes containing only DGDG and EPC. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.