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Updated: May 7, 2026

Fluorescence Recovery after Merging a Droplet to Measure the Two-dimensional Diffusion of a Phospholipid Monolayer
Published on: October 15, 2015
Anomalous diffusion of proteins in sheared lipid membranes
Atefeh Khoshnood1, Mir Abbas Jalali
1Computational Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Avenue, Tehran, Iran and Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Avenue, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
We use coarse grained molecular dynamics simulations to investigate diffusion properties of sheared lipid membranes with embedded transmembrane proteins. In membranes without proteins, we find normal in-plane diffusion of lipids in all flow conditions. Protein embedded membranes behave quite differently: by imposing a simple shear flow and sliding the monolayers of the membrane over each other, the motion of protein clusters becomes strongly superdiffusive in the shear direction. In such a circumstance, the subdiffusion regime is predominant perpendicular to the flow. We show that superdiffusion is a result of accelerated chaotic motions of protein-lipid complexes within the membrane voids, which are generated by hydrophobic mismatch or the transport of lipids by proteins.
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