title: Aggregation on a membrane of particles undergoing active exchange with a reservoir.
abstract: We investigate the dynamics of clusters made of aggregating particles on a membrane which exchanges particles with a reservoir. Exchanges are driven by chemical reactions which supply energy to the system, leading to the establishment of a non-equilibrium steady state. We predict the distribution of cluster size at steady state. We show in particular that in a regime, that cannot exist at equilibrium, the distribution is bimodal: the membrane is mainly populated of single particles and finite-size clusters. This work is motivated by the observations that have revealed the existence of submicrometric clusters of proteins in biological membranes.
authors.affiliation: Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique Statistique, Paris, France. lionel.foret@lps.ens.fr
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Foret
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000737:chemistry; D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases / Q000737:chemistry; D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000737:chemistry; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases