Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 57: Membranes and Vesicles I

BP 57.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 10, 2016, 09:30–10:00, H43

Monolayer curvature induced nanoscale structures in lipid membranes — •Friederike Schmid — Institut fuer Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet Mainz, Germany

Biological lipid membranes are believed to be laterally heterogeneous and filled with nanoscale ordered "raft" domains. However, the mechanisms stabilizing such small rafts are still under debate. Here we report the observation of raft-like structures of sizes in the order of 10 nm in a coarse-grained molecular model for multicomponent lipid bilayers [1]. Furthermore, we discuss a mechanism that generates nanoscale rafts by a coupling between monolayer curvature and local ordering. The theory rationalizes in a unified manner the observation of a variety of nanoscale structures in lipid membranes: Rippled states in one-component membranes, lipid rafts in multicomponent membranes. Both are observed in our generic simulations, with properties that are compatible with experimental observations [1-3]. Finally, we will discuss the interplay of this mechanism with a similar mechanism based on a coupling between *bilayer* curvature and local ordering, which is well known from the literature and can generate ordered microdomain structures on the scale of 100 nm or more, and show how microdomains can be used to organize nanodomains [4].

[1] S. Meinhardt, R.L.C. Vink, F. Schmid, PNAS 119, 4476 (2013).

[2] O. Lenz, F. Schmid, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 058104 (2007).

[3] L. Toppozini et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 228101 (2014).

[4] L. Brodbek, F. Schmid, AEAM, to appear (2015).