Metastable Prepores in Tension-Free Lipid Bilayers

Christina L. Ting, Neha Awasthi, Marcus Müller, and Jochen S. Hub
Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 128103 – Published 23 March 2018
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Abstract

The formation and closure of aqueous pores in lipid bilayers is a key step in various biophysical processes. Large pores are well described by classical nucleation theory, but the free-energy landscape of small, biologically relevant pores has remained largely unexplored. The existence of small and metastable “prepores” was hypothesized decades ago from electroporation experiments, but resolving metastable prepores from theoretical models remained challenging. Using two complementary methods—atomistic simulations and self-consistent field theory of a minimal lipid model—we determine the parameters for which metastable prepores occur in lipid membranes. Both methods consistently suggest that pore metastability depends on the relative volume ratio between the lipid head group and lipid tails: lipids with a larger head-group volume fraction (or shorter saturated tails) form metastable prepores, whereas lipids with a smaller head-group volume fraction (or longer unsaturated tails) form unstable prepores.

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  • Received 31 October 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.128103

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics of Living SystemsPolymers & Soft Matter

Authors & Affiliations

Christina L. Ting1, Neha Awasthi2,3, Marcus Müller4,*, and Jochen S. Hub2,3,†

  • 1Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA
  • 2University of Goettingen, Institute for Microbiology and Genetics, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
  • 3Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
  • 4University of Goettingen, Institute for Theoretical Physics, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

  • *mmueller@theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de
  • Present address: Saarland University, Theoretical Physics, Campus E2 6, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany. jhub@gwdg.de

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Issue

Vol. 120, Iss. 12 — 23 March 2018

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