Issue |
EPL
Volume 84, Number 4, November 2008
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 48003 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/84/48003 | |
Published online | 12 November 2008 |
Adhesion promotes phase separation in mixed-lipid membranes
1
SUPA, School of Physics, and COSMIC, The University of Edinburgh, James Clerk Maxwell Building, Kings Buildings - Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, Scotland, UK, EU
2
Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung - Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany, EU
3
Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University - Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA
4
Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, Heinrich-Heine-University - D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany, EU
Corresponding author: w.poon@ed.ac.uk
Received:
27
June
2008
Accepted:
7
October
2008
We investigate the interplay of domain formation and adhesion in mixed-lipid membranes. Giant unilamellar vesicles consisting of two- and three-component lipid mixtures are studied using confocal fluorescence microscopy. Upon driving the system towards the demixing transition, phase separation is invariably found to occur first in regions where membranes adhere to one another, despite identical lipid headgroups and negligible curvature effects. We propose a simple generic mechanism based on the suppression of thermal shape fluctuations to explain these observations. Our findings suggest novel possibilities by which biomembranes can create and utilize lateral lipid heterogeneities.
PACS: 87.16.D- – Membranes, bilayers, and vesicles / 64.75.St – Phase separation and segregation in thin films / 87.17.Rt – Cell adhesion and cell mechanics
© EPLA, 2008
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