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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.16049 |
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| _version_ | 1866908299790647296 |
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| author | Winter, Antonia Liu, Yuhao Ziepke, Alexander Dadunashvili, George Frey, Erwin |
| author_facet | Winter, Antonia Liu, Yuhao Ziepke, Alexander Dadunashvili, George Frey, Erwin |
| contents | The self-organization of proteins into enriched compartments and the formation of complex patterns are crucial processes for life on the cellular level. Liquid-liquid phase separation is one mechanism for forming such enriched compartments. When phase-separating proteins are membrane-bound and locally disturb it, the mechanical response of the membrane mediates interactions between these proteins. How these membrane-mediated interactions influence the steady state of the protein density distribution is thus an important question to investigate in order to understand the rich diversity of protein and membrane-shape patterns present at the cellular level. This work starts with a widely used model for membrane-bound phase-separating proteins. We numerically solve our system to map out its phase space and perform a careful, systematic expansion of the model equations to characterize the phase transitions through linear stability analysis and free energy arguments. We observe that the membrane-mediated interactions, due to their long-range nature, are capable of qualitatively altering the equilibrium state of the proteins. This leads to arrested coarsening and length-scale selection instead of simple demixing and complete coarsening. In this study, we unambiguously show that long-range membrane-mediated interactions lead to pattern formation in a system that otherwise would not do so. This work provides a basis for further systematic study of membrane-bound pattern-forming systems. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_16049 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Phase Separation on Deformable Membranes: interplay of mechanical coupling and dynamic surface geometry Winter, Antonia Liu, Yuhao Ziepke, Alexander Dadunashvili, George Frey, Erwin Soft Condensed Matter Biological Physics The self-organization of proteins into enriched compartments and the formation of complex patterns are crucial processes for life on the cellular level. Liquid-liquid phase separation is one mechanism for forming such enriched compartments. When phase-separating proteins are membrane-bound and locally disturb it, the mechanical response of the membrane mediates interactions between these proteins. How these membrane-mediated interactions influence the steady state of the protein density distribution is thus an important question to investigate in order to understand the rich diversity of protein and membrane-shape patterns present at the cellular level. This work starts with a widely used model for membrane-bound phase-separating proteins. We numerically solve our system to map out its phase space and perform a careful, systematic expansion of the model equations to characterize the phase transitions through linear stability analysis and free energy arguments. We observe that the membrane-mediated interactions, due to their long-range nature, are capable of qualitatively altering the equilibrium state of the proteins. This leads to arrested coarsening and length-scale selection instead of simple demixing and complete coarsening. In this study, we unambiguously show that long-range membrane-mediated interactions lead to pattern formation in a system that otherwise would not do so. This work provides a basis for further systematic study of membrane-bound pattern-forming systems. |
| title | Phase Separation on Deformable Membranes: interplay of mechanical coupling and dynamic surface geometry |
| topic | Soft Condensed Matter Biological Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.16049 |