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arXiv · 2007.03620

Wrapping of Microparticles by Floppy Lipid Vesicles

Hendrik T. Spanke·Robert W. Style·Claire François-Martin·Maria Feofilova·Manuel Eisentraut·Holger Kress·Jaime Agudo-Canalejo·Eric R. Dufresne
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Abstract

Lipid membranes, the barrier defining living cells and many of their sub-compartments, bind to a wide variety of nano- and micro-meter sized objects. In the presence of strong adhesive forces, membranes can strongly deform and wrap the particles, an essential step in crossing the membrane for a variety of health and disease-related processes. A large body of theoretical and numerical work has focused on identifying the physical properties that underly wrapping. Using a model system of micron-sized colloidal particles and giant unilamellar lipid vesicles with tunable adhesive forces, we measure a wrapping phase diagram and make quantitative comparisons to theoretical models. Our data is consistent with a model of membrane-particle interactions accounting for the adhesive energy per unit area, membrane bending rigidity, particle size, and vesicle radius.

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Hendrik T. Spanke, Robert W. Style, Claire François-Martin, Maria Feofilova, Manuel Eisentraut, Holger Kress, Jaime Agudo-Canalejo, Eric R. Dufresne. 2020-07-07. Wrapping of Microparticles by Floppy Lipid Vesicles. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.125.198102

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