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Title:
Shape transitions in lipid membranes and protein mediated vesicle fusion and fission
Authors:
Atilgan, Erdinç; Sun, Sean X.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218), AB(Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 and Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218)
Publication:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Volume 126, Issue 9, pp. 095102-095102-10 (2007). (JChPh Homepage)
Publication Date:
03/2007
Origin:
AIP
PACS Keywords:
Membranes, bilayers, and vesicles, Proteins, Structure and bonding
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 2007: American Institute of Physics
DOI:
10.1063/1.2483862
Bibliographic Code:
2007JChPh.126i5102A

Abstract

In the cell, the plasma membrane is often densely decorated by transmembrane proteins. The morphology and dynamics of the membrane are strongly influenced by the presence of proteins. In this paper, we use a coarse-grained model to explore the composite membrane-protein system and develop a simulation methodology based on thermodynamic integration to examine free energy changes during membrane shape transitions. The authors show that a critical concentration of conical membrane proteins or proteins with nonzero spontaneous curvature can drive the formation of small vesicles. The driving force of vesicle budding stems from the preference of proteins to gather in regions of high curvature. A sufficiently high concentration of proteins therefore can influence the topology of the membrane. The biological significance of our results is discussed.
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