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Active Growth and Pattern Formation in Membrane-Protein Systems

F. Cagnetta, M. R. Evans, and D. Marenduzzo
Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 258001 – Published 18 June 2018
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Abstract

Inspired by recent experimental observations of patterning at the membrane of a living cell, we propose a generic model for the dynamics of a fluctuating interface driven by particlelike inclusions which stimulate its growth. We find that the coupling between interfacial and inclusions dynamics yields microphase separation and the self-organization of traveling waves. These patterns are strikingly similar to those detected in experiments on biological membranes. Our results further show that the active growth kinetics do not fall into the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class for growing interfaces, displaying instead a novel superposition of scaling and sustained oscillations.

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  • Received 23 October 2017
  • Revised 14 February 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.258001

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Statistical Physics & ThermodynamicsPhysics of Living SystemsPolymers & Soft Matter

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A Toy Model for Active Interfaces

Published 18 June 2018

A new statistical model predicts the evolving shape of a cellular membrane by accounting for the active feedback between the membrane and attached proteins.

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Authors & Affiliations

F. Cagnetta, M. R. Evans, and D. Marenduzzo

  • SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Peter Guthrie Tait Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom

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Issue

Vol. 120, Iss. 25 — 22 June 2018

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