Thursday, July 12, 2012

1207.2575 (Daniel Schmidt et al.)

Coexistence of dilute and densely packed domains of ligand-receptor
bonds in membrane adhesion
   [PDF]

Daniel Schmidt, Timo Bihr, Udo Seifert, Ana-Sunčana Smith
We analyze the stability of micro-domains of ligand-receptor bonds that mediate the adhesion of biological model membranes. After evaluating the effects of membrane fluctuations on the binding affinity of a single bond, we characterize the organization of bonds within the domains by theoretical means. In a large range of parameters, we find the commonly suggested dense packing to be separated by a free energy barrier from a regime in which bonds are sparsely distributed. If bonds are mobile, a coexistence of the two regimes should emerge, which agrees with recent experimental observations.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.2575

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