Force Barriers for Membrane Tube Formation

Gerbrand Koster, Angelo Cacciuto, Imre Derényi, Daan Frenkel, and Marileen Dogterom
Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 068101 – Published 16 February 2005

Abstract

We used optical tweezers to measure the force-extension curve for the formation of tubes from giant vesicles. We show that a significant force barrier exists for the formation of tubes, which increases linearly with the radius of the area on which the pulling force is exerted. The tubes form through a first-order transition with accompanying hysteresis. We confirm these results with Monte Carlo simulations and theoretical calculations. Whether membrane tubes can be formed in, for example, biological cells, thus depends on the details of how forces are applied.

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  • Received 15 July 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.068101

©2005 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Gerbrand Koster1, Angelo Cacciuto1, Imre Derényi2, Daan Frenkel1, and Marileen Dogterom1

  • 1FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF), Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2Department of Biological Physics, Eötvös University, Pázmány P. stny. 1A, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary

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Issue

Vol. 94, Iss. 6 — 18 February 2005

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