Near-critical fluctuations and cytoskeleton-assisted phase separation lead to subdiffusion in cell membranes

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

We address the relationship between membrane microheterogeneity and anomalous subdiffusion in cell membranes by carrying out Monte Carlo simulations of two-component lipid membranes. We find that near-critical fluctuations in the membrane lead to transient subdiffusion, while membrane-cytoskeleton interaction strongly affects phase separation, enhances subdiffusion, and eventually leads to hop diffusion of lipids. Thus, we present a minimum realistic model for membrane rafts showing the features of both microscopic phase separation and subdiffusion.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)80-89
Number of pages10
JournalBiophysical journal
Volume100
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2011
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

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