BPCPPDYSOE21 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 24: Poster B: Active Biological Matter, Cell Mechanics, Systems Biology, Computational Biophysics, etc.

BP 24.41: Poster

Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 16:00–18:30, BPp

Phase separation in membranes due to matter exchange — •Nirvana Caballero¹, Karsten Kruse², and Thierry Giamarchi¹ — ¹Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva, 24 Quai Ernest-Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland — ²Department of Biochemistry, Department of Theoretical Physics and National Center of Competence in Research Chemical Biology, University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland

Heterogeneous lipid composition in cell membranes is key to biological function, acting as one of the main mechanisms to exchange information between cells or between a cell an its environment. The underlying mechanisms controlling pattern formation are still under debate. In this work, we consider a theoretical phase-field model to describe the composition of a two-dimensional membrane exchanging matter with a reservoir. The model includes matter absorption and desorption in the membrane with different rates. By only assuming matter conservation in the system membrane-reservoir, we show with extensive numerical simulations that, depending on these rates, a complex patterned composition distribution emerges in the membrane. The pattern emergence is due to spatio-temporal "memory" effects. Our results show that the causes of heterogeneous lipid composition may be justified in simple physical terms.