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Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Crystallization of Membrane Proteins in Lipidic Mesophases
Published on: March 28, 2011
Liquid crystal theory of biomembranes
Zhong-Can Ou-Yang1, Tao Xu1,2
1Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2735, Beijing 100080, China.
Abstract:
Biomembranes, which are primarily composed of lipid bilayers, are not merely passive barriers, but dynamic, complex materials whose shapes are governed by the principles of soft-matter physics. This review examines the shape problem in biomembranes from the perspectives of materials science and liquid-crystal theory. We apply the Helfrich elastic model to the biomembrane shape in an electromagnetic field, and we extend the Helfrich free energy to multilayer systems, drawing parallels between the focal-conic structures of smectic liquid crystals and the geometries of fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and the icosahedral virus. The review concludes by highlighting the unifying power of continuum elastic theories in describing a wide range of membrane morphologies across biological and synthetic systems.
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