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Article
Title: | Alternative mechanisms of structuring biomembranes: self-assembly versus self-organization |
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Author(s): | K. John and M. Bär |
Journal: | Physical review letters |
Year: | 2005 |
Volume: | 95 |
Issue: | 19 |
Pages: | 198101 |
DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.198101 |
ISSN: | 0031-9007 |
Web URL: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16384028 |
Keywords: | 8.41,Algorithms,Cell Physiological Phenomena,Membrane Proteins,Membrane Proteins: chemistry,Membranes,Membranes: chemistry,Models, Statistical,Particle Size,Phosphorylation,Statistical |
Tags: | 8.41 |
Abstract: | We study two mechanisms for the formation of protein patterns near membranes of living cells by mathematical modelling. Self-assembly of protein domains by electrostatic lipid-protein interactions is contrasted with self-organization due to a nonequilibrium biochemical reaction cycle of proteins near the membrane. While both processes lead eventually to quite similar patterns, their evolution occurs on very different length and time scales. Self-assembly produces periodic protein patterns on a spatial scale below 0.1 microm in a few seconds followed by extremely slow coarsening, whereas self-organization results in a pattern wavelength comparable to the typical cell size of 100 microm within a few minutes suggesting different biological functions for the two processes. |