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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Realistic Membrane Modeling Using Complex Lipid Mixtures in Simulation Studies
Published on: September 1, 2023
Large-scale simulations of fluctuating biological membranes
Andrea Pasqua1, Lutz Maibaum, George Oster
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
None:
We present a simple, and physically motivated, coarse-grained model of a lipid bilayer, suited for micron scale computer simulations. Each approximately 25 nm(2) patch of bilayer is represented by a spherical particle. Mimicking forces of hydrophobic association, multiparticle interactions suppress the exposure of each sphere's equator to its implicit solvent surroundings. The requirement of high equatorial density stabilizes two-dimensional structures without necessitating crystalline order, allowing us to match both the elasticity and fluidity of natural lipid membranes. We illustrate the model's versatility and realism by characterizing a membrane's response to a prodding nanorod.
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