title: Line Tension Controls Liquid-Disordered + Liquid-Ordered Domain Size Transition in Lipid Bilayers.
abstract: To better understand animal cell plasma membranes, we studied simplified models, namely four-component lipid bilayer mixtures. Here we describe the domain size transition in the region of coexisting liquid-disordered (Ld) + liquid-ordered (Lo) phases. This transition occurs abruptly in composition space with domains increasing in size by two orders of magnitude, from tens of nanometers to microns. We measured the line tension between coexisting Ld and Lo domains close to the domain size transition for a variety of lipid mixtures, finding that in every case the transition occurs at a line tension of ∼0.3 pN. A computational model incorporating line tension and dipole repulsion indicated that even small changes in line tension can result in domains growing in size by several orders of magnitude, consistent with experimental observations. We find that other properties of the coexisting Ld and Lo phases do not change significantly in the vicinity of the abrupt domain size transition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
authors.forename: Rebecca D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Usery
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
authors.forename: Thais A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Enoki
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Sanjula P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Wickramasinghe
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
authors.forename: Wen-Chyan
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Mary B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Harvard Medical School Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures Center and Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Department of Biochemistry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
authors.forename: Thomas L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Torng
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Scientific Computing, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, Virginia.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Ackerman
authors.affiliation: Joint Institute for Biological Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Biology and Soft Matter Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee; The Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.
authors.forename: Frederick A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Heberle
authors.affiliation: Biology and Soft Matter Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Katsaras
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Electronic address: gwf3@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Gerald W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Feigenson
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D004578:Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D033363:Neutron Diffraction; D044367:Phase Transition; D053838:Scattering, Small Angle
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers