Multiscale approaches to protein-mediated interactions between membranes—relating microscopic and macroscopic dynamics in radially growing adhesions

Language
en
Document Type
Article
Issue Date
2015-08-13
Issue Year
2015
Authors
Bihr, Timo
Seifert, Udo
Smith, Ana-Suncana
Editor
Abstract

Macromolecular complexation leading to coupling of two or more cellular membranes is a crucial step in a number of biological functions of the cell. While other mechanisms may also play a role, adhesion always involves the fluctuations of deformable membranes, the diffusion of proteins and the molecular binding and unbinding. Because these stochastic processes couple over a multitude of time and length scales, theoretical modeling of membrane adhesion has been a major challenge. Here we present an effective Monte Carlo scheme within which the effects of the membrane are integrated into local rates for molecular recognition. The latter step in the Monte Carlo approach enables us to simulate the nucleation and growth of adhesion domains within a system of the size of a cell for tens of seconds without loss of accuracy, as shown by comparison to 106 times more expensive Langevin simulations. To perform this validation, the Langevin approach was augmented to simulate diffusion of proteins explicitly, together with reaction kinetics and membrane dynamics.Weuse the Monte Carlo scheme to gain deeper insight to the experimentally observed radial growth of micron sized adhesion domains, and connect the effective rate with which the domain is growing to the underlying microscopic events.Wethus demonstrate that our technique yields detailed information about protein transport and complexation in membranes, which is a fundamental step toward understanding even more complex membrane interactions in the cellular context.

Journal Title
New Journal of Physics
Volume
17
Issue
8
Citation
New Journal of Physics 17.8 (2015) <http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/17/8/083016/pdf/njp_17_8_083016.pdf>
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