中国物理B ›› 2025, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (8): 88706-088706.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/adc36d

所属专题： SPECIAL TOPIC — A celebration of the 90th Anniversary of the Birth of Bolin Hao

• • 上一篇    下一篇

Shape transformation of vesicles induced by orientational arrangement of membrane proteins

Menglong Feng(冯梦龙)1,†, Kunhao Dong(董堃昊)1,†, Yuansheng Cao(曹远胜)2,‡, and Rui Ma(马锐)3,§   

  1. 1 Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;
    2 Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;
    3 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
  • 收稿日期:2025-03-01 修回日期:2025-03-12 接受日期:2025-03-21 出版日期:2025-07-17 发布日期:2025-07-17
  • 通讯作者: Yuansheng Cao, Rui Ma E-mail:yscao@tsinghua.edu.cn;ruima@xmu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    We acknowledge financial support from the the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12474199 (RM) and 12374213 (YC)), Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of China (Grant No. 20720240144 (RM)), and 111 Project (Grant No. B16029).

Shape transformation of vesicles induced by orientational arrangement of membrane proteins

Menglong Feng(冯梦龙)1,†, Kunhao Dong(董堃昊)1,†, Yuansheng Cao(曹远胜)2,‡, and Rui Ma(马锐)3,§   

  1. 1 Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;
    2 Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;
    3 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
  • Received:2025-03-01 Revised:2025-03-12 Accepted:2025-03-21 Online:2025-07-17 Published:2025-07-17
  • Contact: Yuansheng Cao, Rui Ma E-mail:yscao@tsinghua.edu.cn;ruima@xmu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    We acknowledge financial support from the the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12474199 (RM) and 12374213 (YC)), Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of China (Grant No. 20720240144 (RM)), and 111 Project (Grant No. B16029).

RichHTML

0

PDF (PC)

35

赞

摘要： Vesicles of lipid bilayer can adopt a variety of shapes due to different coating proteins. The ability of proteins to reshape membrane is typically characterized by inducing spontaneous curvature of the membrane at the coated area. BAR family proteins are known to have a crescent shape and can induce membrane curvature along their concaved body axis but not in the perpendicular direction. We model this type of proteins as a rod-shaped molecule with an orientation and induce normal curvature along its orientation in the tangential plane of the membrane surface. We show how a ring of these proteins reshapes an axisymmetric vesicle when the protein curvature or orientation is varied. A discontinuous shape transformation from a protrusion shape without a neck to a one with a neck is found. Increasing the rigidity of the protein ring is able to smooth out the transition. Furthermore, we show that varying the protein orientation is able to induce an hourglass-shaped neck, which is significantly narrower than the reciprocal of the protein curvature. Our results offer a new angle to rationalize the helical structure formed by many proteins that carry out membrane fission functions.

关键词: cell membrane, BAR proteins, anisotropic curvature, shape transformation

Abstract: Vesicles of lipid bilayer can adopt a variety of shapes due to different coating proteins. The ability of proteins to reshape membrane is typically characterized by inducing spontaneous curvature of the membrane at the coated area. BAR family proteins are known to have a crescent shape and can induce membrane curvature along their concaved body axis but not in the perpendicular direction. We model this type of proteins as a rod-shaped molecule with an orientation and induce normal curvature along its orientation in the tangential plane of the membrane surface. We show how a ring of these proteins reshapes an axisymmetric vesicle when the protein curvature or orientation is varied. A discontinuous shape transformation from a protrusion shape without a neck to a one with a neck is found. Increasing the rigidity of the protein ring is able to smooth out the transition. Furthermore, we show that varying the protein orientation is able to induce an hourglass-shaped neck, which is significantly narrower than the reciprocal of the protein curvature. Our results offer a new angle to rationalize the helical structure formed by many proteins that carry out membrane fission functions.

Key words: cell membrane, BAR proteins, anisotropic curvature, shape transformation

中图分类号:  (Protein-membrane interactions)

  • 87.15.kt
87.15.K- (Molecular interactions; membrane-protein interactions) 87.17.Rt (Cell adhesion and cell mechanics) 87.10.-e (General theory and mathematical aspects)