title: Near-critical fluctuations and cytoskeleton-assisted phase separation lead to subdiffusion in cell membranes.
abstract: We address the relationship between membrane microheterogeneity and anomalous subdiffusion in cell membranes by carrying out Monte Carlo simulations of two-component lipid membranes. We find that near-critical fluctuations in the membrane lead to transient subdiffusion, while membrane-cytoskeleton interaction strongly affects phase separation, enhances subdiffusion, and eventually leads to hop diffusion of lipids. Thus, we present a minimum realistic model for membrane rafts showing the features of both microscopic phase separation and subdiffusion.
authors.affiliation: Biophysics, BIOTEC, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ehrig
authors.forename: Eugene P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schwille
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D004058:Diffusion; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000378:metabolism; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000378:metabolism; D044367:Phase Transition; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; C010942:1,2-distearoyllecithin; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine