Thermodynamics of wetting, prewetting and surface phase transitions with surface binding
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
In living cells, protein-rich condensates can wet the cell membrane and surfaces of membrane-bound organelles. Interestingly, many phase-separating proteins also bind to membranes leading to a molecular layer of bound molecules. Here we investigate how binding to membranes affects wetting, prewetting and surface phase transitions. We derive a thermodynamic theory for a three-dimensional bulk in the presence of a two-dimensional, flat membrane. At phase coexistence, we find that membrane binding facilitates complete wetting and thus lowers the wetting angle. Moreover, below the saturation concentration, binding facilitates the formation of a thick layer at the membrane and thereby shifts the prewetting phase transition far below the saturation concentration. The distinction between bound and unbound molecules near the surface leads to a large variety of surface states and complex surface phase diagrams with a rich topology of phase transitions. Our work suggests that surface phase transitions combined with molecular binding represent a versatile mechanism to control the formation of protein-rich domains at intra-cellular surfaces.
Details
| Original language | English |
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| Article number | 123003 |
| Journal | New journal of physics |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2021 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| ORCID | /0000-0003-0475-3790/work/161889534 |
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Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- surface binding, surface phase transitions, thermodynamics of wetting and prewetting