Phase behavior of multicomponent membranes: Experimental and computational techniques

LUIS A. BAGATOLLI; P.B.S. KUMAR

SOFT MATTER

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY

Lugar: CAMBRIDGE; Año: 2009 vol. 5 p. 3234 - 3234

1744-683X

ecent developments in biology seems to indicate that the Fluid Mosaic model of membrane proposed by Singer and Nicolson, with lipid bilayer functioning only as medium to support protein machinery, may be too simple to be realistic. Many protein functions are now known to depend on the composition of the membrane. Experiments indicate that biomembranes of eukaryotic cells may be laterally organized into small nanoscopic domains. This inplane organization is expected to play an important role in a variety of physiological functions such as signaling, recruitment of specific proteins and endocytosis. However, mainly because of their complexity, the precise in-plane organization of lipids and proteins and their stability in biological membranes remain difficult to elucidate. This has reiterated the importance of understanding the equilibrium phase behavior and the kinetics of fluid multicomponent lipid membranes. Current increase in interest in the domain formation in multicomponent membr