Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
J Chem Phys. 2013 Jan 14;138(2):024909. doi: 10.1063/1.4773856.
We investigate dynamical and stationary compositional and surface morphologies in macroscopically phase-separating multicomponent lipid bilayer membranes using a computational model. We employ a phase-field method for the description of the coexisting phases and treat the two leaflets individually while including interleaflet interactions. The compositional evolution of the two leaflets is coupled to the shape evolution of the membrane via a Helfrich free energy with a composition-dependent spontaneous curvature. We investigate the effects of the interleaflet interaction on the dynamics and stationary states of a system favoring nonzero spontaneous curvatures. Morphological phase diagrams are mapped in composition space using three different interleaflet coupling strengths. We find that characteristics sensitive to the coupling strength include the time required to develop regions of fully separated phases, the prevalence of a stripe morphology, and the shifting of phase compositions to accommodate energetically favorable interactions across leaflets. Characteristics found to be robust with respect to coupling strength include (1) the stripe morphology is favored at nearly equal mixtures and (2) phase separation is prevented in systems where a pair of phases that preferentially interact across leaflets together occupy nearly all or none of the membrane.
我们使用计算模型研究了宏观相分离多组分脂质双层膜中的动力学和静态组成和表面形态。我们采用相场方法来描述共存相,并在考虑层间相互作用的同时分别处理两个小叶。两个小叶的组成演化通过具有组成依赖性自发曲率的 Helfrich 自由能与膜的形状演化耦合。我们研究了在有利于非零自发曲率的系统中,层间相互作用对动力学和静态状态的影响。使用三种不同的层间耦合强度在组成空间中绘制了形态相图。我们发现,对耦合强度敏感的特征包括形成完全分离相区域所需的时间、条纹形态的盛行以及为了适应跨小叶有利的相互作用而改变相组成。相对于耦合强度表现出稳健性的特征包括 (1) 条纹形态在几乎相等的混合物中是有利的,以及 (2) 当优先跨小叶相互作用的一对相几乎占据整个膜或根本不占据膜时,相分离被阻止。