title: Elastic properties of biological membranes influenced by attached proteins.
abstract: Positively charged proteins can attach themselves to the negatively charged outer surface of biological cell membranes and liposomes. In this work, the influence of the intrinsic shape of the membrane-attached proteins on the elastic properties of the membrane is considered theoretically. It is shown that attachment of anisotropic proteins to the outer surface of biological membranes may induce tubulation of the membrane. The attachment of semi-flexible rod-like proteins increases the local bending constant, while the attachment of semi-flexible plate-like anisotropic proteins may also reduce the local bending constant of the membrane. The role of the hydrophobic protrusion of the attached protein which is embedded in the outer membrane layer is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia. ales.iglic@fe.uni-lj.si
authors.forename: Ales
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iglic
authors.forename: Tomaz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Slivnik
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kralj-Iglic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology*; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011487:Protein Conformation; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins