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Updated: Jun 26, 2025
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Pulling Membrane Nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles
Published on: December 7, 2017
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Shaping membrane vesicles by adsorption of hinge-like nanoparticles
1State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 130022 Changchun, China.
The Journal of Chemical Physics
|May 15, 2024
Summary
Deformable particles interacting with fluid membranes can self-assemble and alter membrane shape. Modifying particle properties like stiffness and adhesion controls their organization and the resulting vesicle morphology.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Soft Matter Physics
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Particle adsorption on fluid membranes drives self-assembly and alters membrane shape.
- Deformable particles introduce complexities due to mutual particle-membrane deformability, a less-studied area compared to rigid particles.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate equilibrium properties of hinge-like deformable particles on membrane vesicles.
- Explore how particle properties influence self-assembly and membrane morphology.
Main Methods:
- Monte Carlo simulations.
- Umbrella sampling techniques.
- Systematic variation of hinge stiffness, adhesive area fraction, adhesive region patterning, and particle number.
Main Results:
- Isolated particles can conform to vesicles, induce membrane invaginations, or exhibit multistable configurations.
- Two particles can be induced to aggregate, segregate, or stabilize coexistence based on their properties.
- Multiple particles control organization and vesicle shape, leading to spherical, dumbbell-like, or multi-lobed structures.
Conclusions:
- Mechanical properties and patterned adhesion of deformable particles significantly influence their self-assembly.
- These modifications, achievable with DNA nanotechnology, dictate the emergent shapes of both particles and vesicles.
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