Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 38: Membranes and Vesicles I

BP 38.7: Talk

Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 11:45–12:00, HÜL 386

Rupturing the hemi-fission intermediate in membrane fission: roles of tension and dynamin's conformational changes — •Guojie Zhang and Marcus Müller — Institute for Theoretical Physics, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany

Membrane fission is a fundamental process in cell, involved in intracellular trafficking, virus infection, etc. It is a collective phenomenon mediated by proteins (mainly dynamin), in which an initially continuous membrane breaks into two topologically independent membranes. So far, however, its underlying molecular mechanism, especially on the specific role of dynamin in fission, is only incompletely understood. Recent experimental and simulation studies concluded that dynamin-mediated fission proceeds via the formation and rupture of a metastable hemi-fission intermediate by dynamin's conformational changes. The latter is a thermally activated process but the transition state is unknown. Here, we employ computer simulation of coarse-grained models of membrane and dynamin, combined with enhanced sampling techniques, to explore: (a) pathways, free-energy barriers, and the concomitant transition states during the rupture of a protein-free hemi-fission state under tension; (b) dynamin's conformational changes, which could lower the free-energy barriers of rupturing the hemi-fission and thus complete membrane fission.