Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 100: Poster Session I

AKB 100.74: Poster

Saturday, March 5, 2005, 16:45–18:45, Poster TU D

Adhesion-induced domain formation of membranes with long and short stickers — •Mesfin Asfaw, Reinhard Lipowsky, and Thomas R. Weikl — Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Theory Division, 14424 Potsdam

Biological membranes contain domains which serve important functions, e.g. in signaling, budding, or adhesion. The formation of these domains can be driven by a phase separation of the lipid bilayer, or by the aggregation of membrane-embedded macromolecules. We consider the adhesion of membranes with various types of adhesion molecules, or ‘stickers’. The stickers differ in their characteristic lengths and binding energies. During membrane adhesion, the length mismatch of the stickers causes a separation into distinct domains, provided the sticker concentrations exceed a critical threshold. This mechanism of adhesion-induced phase separation into domains with long and short stickers has been recently observed during T cell recognition. We characterize the rich equilibrium phase behavior of these membranes using scaling estimates and Monte Carlo simulations.