Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 26: Posters: Membranes and Vesicles
BP 26.12: Poster
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Hydration strongly affects the molecular and electronic structure of phospholipid membranes — Alireza Mashaghi1, pouya partovi2, •tayebeh jadidi2, Nasser Nafari2, Philipp Maass2, M. Reza Rahimi Tabar2, Mischa Bonn3, and Huib Bakker1 — 1FOM Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands — 2Fachbereich Physik, Universität Osnabrück, Barbarastraße 7, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany — 3Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
We investigate the structure and electronic properties of phosphatidylcholine (PC) under different degrees of hydration at the single-molecule and monolayer level by linear scaling ab initio calculations. Upon hydration, the phospholipid undergoes drastic long-range conformational rearrangements which lead to a sickle-like ground-state shape. The structural unit of the gel-phase PC membrane appears to be a water-bridged PC dimer. We find that hydration dramatically alters the surface potential, dipole and quadrupole moments of the lipids and consequently guides the interactions of the membrane with other molecules and the communication between cells.