Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 14: Poster Session I

BP 14.16: Poster

Tuesday, March 18, 2025, 10:00–12:30, P3

Properties of Long-Chain Lipid Enriched Regions in Biological Membranes: Insights from MD Simulations — •Annemarie Quas, Clara Rickhoff, and Andreas Heuer — Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 28/30, 48149 Münster

Experimental studies of yeast plasma membranes reveal gel domains enriched in long-chain lipids and depleted in ergosterol [1]. To explore these findings, we perform coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of membranes with varying concentration of long-chain lipids. To enhance our understanding, we simulate both asymmetric membranes with long-chain lipids in the outer leaflet, as observed experimentally, and symmetric membranes containing long-chain lipids in both leaflets. Our analysis focuses on characterizing key membrane properties and examining the influence of long-chain lipids. The role of ergosterol is also investigated. Additionally, we assess non-affine lipid movements to provide insights into the dynamics within these gel domains. This study aims to bridge experimental observations with molecular-level mechanisms, advancing our understanding of gel-phase organization and its implications for membrane functionality.

[1] Aresta-Branco et al. , J. Biol. Chem. 2011, 7, 5043-5054

Keywords: molecular dynamics simulations; biological membranes; coarse-graining