Biomembranes attract each other
via adhesion molecules and receptor/ligand bonds.
[1]
[2]
These molecular "stickers" can diffuse laterally within
the contact area of the membranes,
which implies that the molecular bonds can
form clusters, domains, and domain patterns.
[3]
[4]
The molecular mechanisms underlying these pattern formation processes may
be of entropic
[5]
or enthalpic
[2]
origin.
One particularly interesting example is provided by immunological synapses
which involve the active transport of adhesion molecules into the contact zone
[6].
In order to study these pattern formation processes, we introduced lattice gas models on deformable surfaces [1] [4], which automatically incorporate the mutual exclusion between the molecules and provide an intuitive understanding of the observed behavior in terms of nucleation and growth processes. The same approach also leads to a concise description for the binding cooperativity of membrane-anchored molecules and to a generalized 'law of mass action' for membrane adhesion [7], with binding constants that are governed by the nanoscale roughness of the membranes [8]. |
Binding constants of membrane-anchored receptors
and ligands depend strongly on the nanoscale
roughness of membranes.
Binding constants of membrane-anchored receptors
and ligands ... - Supporting Information
PNAS 110, 15283-15288 (2013)
Line tension and stability of domains of long and short receptor-ligand
complexes in cell-adhesion zones.
PLoS ONE 6, e23284 (2011).
Segregation of receptor-ligand complexes in cell adhesion zones:
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New J. Phys. 12, 095003 (2010).
Adhesion of membranes via receptor-ligand complexes: Domain formation,
binding cooperativity, and active processes.
Soft Matter 5, 3213-3224 (2009).
Binding cooperativity of membrane adhesion receptors.
Soft Matter 5, 3354 - 3361 (2009).
Lateral diffusion of receptor-ligand bonds in membrane adhesion zones: Effect of thermal membrane
roughness.
EPL 78, 38003 (2007).
Stochastic resonance for adhesion of membranes with active stickers.
Eur. Phys. J. E 22, 97 - 106 (2007).
Membrane Adhesion and Domain Formation.
In "Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Liposomes'', Vol. 5,
ed. by A. Leitmannova Liu
(Elsevier, 2007) p. 64 -127.
Membrane adhesion via competing receptor/ligand bonds.
Europhys. Lett. 76, 703 - 709 (2006).
Adhesion of lipid membranes induced by CrCl3.
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Adhesion of Membranes via switchable molecules.
Phys. Rev. E 73, 061908 (2006).
Adhesion of Membranes with Active Stickers.
Adhesion of Membranes with Active Stickers - Appendices.
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Pattern Formation during T-Cell Adhesion.
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Pattern formation during adhesion of multicomponent membranes.
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Domains and Rafts in Membranes - Hidden Dimensions of
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Adhesion of
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Eur. Phys. J. E 8, 59-66 (2002).
Adhesion-induced phase behavior of multicomponent membranes.
Phys. Rev. E 64 , 011903 (2001).
Local adhesion of membranes to striped surface domains.
Langmuir 16 , 9338-9346 (2000).
Unbinding transitions and phase separation of multi-component
membranes.
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Flexible membranes with anchored polymers
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Adhesion of membranes via anchored stickers.
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