Polymer-induced tubulation in lipid vesicles

A mechanism of extraction of tubular membranes from a lipid vesicle is presented. A concentration gradient of anchoring amphiphilic polymers generates tubes from budlike vesicle protrusions. We explain this mechanism in the framework of the Canham-Helfrich model. The energy profile is analytically c...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Campelo, Fèlix, Hernández Machado, Aurora
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2008
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/12858
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/12858
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Biofísica
Biophysics
Descripción
Sumario:A mechanism of extraction of tubular membranes from a lipid vesicle is presented. A concentration gradient of anchoring amphiphilic polymers generates tubes from budlike vesicle protrusions. We explain this mechanism in the framework of the Canham-Helfrich model. The energy profile is analytically calculated and a tube with a fixed length, corresponding to an energy minimum, is obtained in a certain regime of parameters. Further, using a phase-field model, we corroborate these results numerically. We obtain the growth of tubes when a polymer source is added, and the budlike shape after removal of the polymer source, in accordance with recent experimental results.