title: Mechanics of membrane fusion/pore formation.
abstract: Lipid bilayers play a fundamental role in many biological processes, and a considerable effort has been invested in understanding their behavior and the mechanism of topological changes like fusion and pore formation. Due to the time- and length-scale on which these processes occur, computational methods have proven to be an especially useful tool in their study. With their help, a number of interesting findings about the shape of fusion intermediates could be obtained, and novel hypotheses about the mechanism of topological changes and the involvement of peptides therein were suggested. In this work, we try to present a summary of these developments together with some hitherto unpublished results, featuring, among others, the shape of stalks and fusion pores, possible modes of action of the influenza HA fusion peptide and the SNARE protein complex, the mechanism of supported lipid bilayer formation by vesicle spreading, and the free energy and transition pathway of the fusion process.
authors.affiliation: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Institut für theoretische Physik, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: fuhrmans@theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fuhrmans
authors.affiliation: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Institut für theoretische Physik, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marelli
authors.affiliation: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Institut für theoretische Physik, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Yuliya G
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Smirnova
authors.affiliation: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Institut für theoretische Physik, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D008958:Models, Molecular; D016062:Porosity; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers
keywords: Coarse-grained models; Fusion; Pore formation; Simulation