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Line Tension Controls Liquid-Disordered + Liquid-Ordered Domain Size Transition in Lipid Bilayers
Rebecca D Usery1, Thais A Enoki1, Sanjula P Wickramasinghe2
1Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Biophysical Journal
|April 14, 2017
Summary
Researchers studied lipid bilayer mixtures to understand animal cell plasma membranes. They discovered a critical line tension value that causes lipid domains to abruptly increase in size by two orders of magnitude.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Materials Science
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Animal cell plasma membranes exhibit complex phase behavior.
- Understanding lipid-protein interactions is crucial for membrane function.
- Lipid bilayers form distinct liquid-disordered (Ld) and liquid-ordered (Lo) phases.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the domain size transition in lipid bilayer mixtures.
- Determine the critical line tension governing phase separation.
- Correlate line tension with domain growth in Ld+Lo phases.
Main Methods:
- Utilized four-component lipid bilayer mixtures as simplified models.
- Measured line tension between coexisting Ld and Lo domains.
- Employed a computational model with line tension and dipole repulsion.
Main Results:
- Observed an abrupt domain size transition from nanometers to microns.
- Identified a critical line tension of approximately 0.3 pN for this transition.
- Computational model supported experimental findings on domain growth.
Conclusions:
- Line tension is a key factor in abrupt domain size transitions.
- Small variations in line tension significantly impact domain morphology.
- Other phase properties remain stable near the transition point.