Header menu link for other important links
X
Lipid-protein interaction induced domains: Kinetics and conformational changes in multicomponent vesicles
K. Sreeja K.,
Published in AIP Publishing
2018
PMID: 29626906
Volume: 148
   
Issue: 13
Abstract

The spatio-temporal organization of proteins and the associated morphological changes in membranes are of importance in cell signaling. Several mechanisms that promote the aggregation of proteins at low cell surface concentrations have been investigated in the past. We show, using Monte Carlo simulations, that the affinity of proteins for specific lipids can hasten their aggregation kinetics. The lipid membrane is modeled as a dynamically triangulated surface with the proteins defined as in-plane fields at the vertices. We show that, even at low protein concentrations, strong lipid-protein interactions can result in large protein clusters indicating a route to lipid mediated signal amplification. At high protein concentrations, the domains form buds similar to that seen in lipid-lipid interaction induced phase separation. Protein interaction induced domain budding is suppressed when proteins act as anisotropic inclusions and exhibit nematic orientational order. The kinetics of protein clustering and resulting conformational changes are shown to be significantly different for the isotropic and anisotropic curvature inducing proteins.

About the journal
JournalData powered by TypesetThe Journal of Chemical Physics
PublisherData powered by TypesetAIP Publishing
ISSN00219606
Open AccessNo