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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

In Vitro Reconstitution of Self-Organizing Protein Patterns on Supported Lipid Bilayers
Published on: July 28, 2018
Surface waves of Min-proteins
Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich1, Romain Nguyen van yen, Karsten Kruse
1Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
In the bacterium Escherichia coli, the Min-proteins show pronounced pole-to-pole oscillations. They are functional for suppressing cell division at the cell ends, leaving the center as the only possible site for division. Analyzing different models of Min-protein dynamics in a bacterial geometry, we find waves on the cytoplasmic membrane. Interestingly, the surface wave solutions of different models belong to different symmetry classes. We suggest that experiments on Min-protein surface waves in vitro are helpful in distinguishing between different classes of models of Min-protein dynamics.
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