title: Competition between line tension and curvature stabilizes modulated phase patterns on the surface of giant unilamellar vesicles: a simulation study.
abstract: When prepared in the liquid-liquid coexistence region, the four-component lipid system distearoyl-phospha-tidylcholine-dioleoyl-phosphatidylcholine-palmitoyl,oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol (DSPC-DOPC-POPC-Cholesterol), with certain ratios of DOPC and POPC, shows striking modulated phase patterns on the surface of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). In this simulation study, we show that the morphology of these patterns can be explained by the competition of line tension (which tends to favor large round domains) and curvature, as specified by the Helfrich energy functional. In this study we use a Monte-Carlo simulation on the surface of a GUV to determine the equilibrium shape and phase morphology. We find that the patterns arising from these competing interactions very closely approximate those observed, that the patterned morphologies represent thermodynamically stable configurations, and that the geometric nature of these patterns is closely tied to the relative and absolute values of the model parameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA. jja54@cornell.edu
authors.forename: Jonathan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Amazon
authors.forename: Shih Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.forename: Gerald W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Feigenson
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D008560:Membrane Fluidity; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D044367:Phase Transition; D013500:Surface Tension; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes