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arXiv · 1406.5713

Coarse grained molecular simulations of membrane adhesion domains

Nadiv Dharan·Oded Farago
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Abstract

We use a coarse grained molecular model of supported lipid bilayers to study the formation of adhesion domains. We find that this process is a first order phase transition, triggered by a combination of pairwise short range attractive interactions between the adhesion bonds and many-body Casimir-like interactions, mediated by the membrane thermal undulations. The simulation results display an excellent agreement with the recently proposed Weil-Farago 2D lattice model, in which the occupied and empty sites represent, respectively, the adhesion bonds and unbound segments of the membrane. A second phase transition, into a hexatic phase, is observed when the attraction between the adhesion bonds is further strengthened.

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Nadiv Dharan, Oded Farago. 2014-06-22. Coarse grained molecular simulations of membrane adhesion domains. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4886397

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