Membrane Fusion Stalks and Lipid Rafts: A Love-Hate Relationship

Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations are applied to explore the experimentally observed ability of the liquid-ordered (lo)/liquid-disordered (ld) phase boundary to facilitate viral membrane fusion. Surprisingly, a formed fusion stalk can be both attracted (i.e., stalkophilic) and repelled (i.e., stalkophobic) by the lo/ld phase boundary. The phase boundary becomes stalkophilic if the lo phase constituents have the larger negative spontaneous curvature. In such a case, location of the highly curved stalk near the less-ordered and thus (relatively) softer boundary region becomes energetically favorable. These insights may explain why modeled viral fusion occurs preferentially near the lo/ld phase boundary.