Formation and interaction of membrane tubes.
We show that the formation of membrane tubes (or membrane tethers), which is a crucial step in many biological processes, is highly nontrivial and involves first-order shape transitions. The force exerted by an emerging tube is a nonmonotonic function of its length. We point out that tubes attract each other, which eventually leads to their coalescence. We also show that detached tubes behave like semiflexible filaments with a rather short persistence length. We suggest that these properties play an important role in the formation and structure of tubular organelles.
Derényi
Imre
I
Institut Curie, UMR 168, 26 rue d'Ulm, F-75248 Paris Cédex 05, France.
Jülicher
Frank
F
Prost
Jacques
J
D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D013500:Surface Tension