Application of a free-energy-landscape approach to study tension-dependent bilayer tubulation mediated by curvature-inducing proteins

作者：Tourdot Richard W^*; Ramakrishnan N; Baumgart Tobias; Radhakrishnan Ravi

来源：Physical Review E, 2015, 92(4): 042715.

DOI：10.1103/PhysRevE.92.042715

We investigate the phenomenon of protein-induced tubulation of lipid bilayer membranes within a continuum framework using Monte Carlo simulations coupled with the Widom insertion technique to compute excess chemical potentials. Tubular morphologies are spontaneously formed when the density and the curvature-field strength of the membrane-bound proteins exceed their respective thresholds and this transition is marked by a sharp drop in the excess chemical potential. We find that the planar to tubular transition can be described by a micellar model and that the corresponding free-energy barrier increases with an increase in the curvature-field strength (i.e., of protein-membrane interactions) and also with an increase in membrane tension.

• 出版日期2015-10-29