Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 19: Membranes and Vesicles

BP 19.5: Talk

Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 11:15–11:30, H43

Effects of the bulk in a simple model of nonequilibrium formation of lipid domains in biomembranes — Sergio Alonso and •Markus Bär — Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Berlin, Germany

Proteins inside the cell strongly interact with biological membranes depending on the lipid composition and the interaction with other proteins. We consider a simple model of membrane organization into domains based on a cyclic binding and unbinding of the MARCKS protein to acidic lipids known as myristo-electrostatic (ME) switch. The model describes the formation of membrane domains under nonequilibrium conditions, because the ME switch consumes ATP and leads to non-vanishing currents of proteins. We study the coarsening dynamics and the effects of the coupling to a three-dimensional bulk in the domain pattern formation. The effect of the bulk is an effective decrease of reaction rates in the ME switch, for which simple expressions can be derived. The predictions are verified by comparison of numerical simulations including the bulk and analytically obtained phase diagrams.