Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 9: Membranes and Interfaces

BP 9.7: Talk

Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 12:15–12:30, PC 203

A simulation approach to membrane protein aggregation via hydrophobic mismatch — •Gernot Guigas, Ulrich Schmidt, and Matthias Weiss — Cellular Biophysics Group, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Bioquant Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg

The oligomerization of membrane proteins is a vital and ubiquitous phenomenon in living cells, e.g. when receptor proteins at the cell's plasma membrane oligomerize after ligand binding to trigger downstream signaling cascades. While a pairwise attractive interaction may account for many oligomerization phenomena, several lines of evidence also implicate membrane-mediated forces as important driving forces for membrane protein aggregation. Using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), we have studied the aggregation of membrane proteins in a simple yet generic setup. Depending on the strength of the hydrophobic mismatch of the transmembrane domain and the surrounding lipid bilayer we observed a strong aggregation of membrane proteins. Moreover, the diffusive properties of the membrane proteins were strongly altered when the hydrophobic mismatch was varied.