An alternative scenario for the formation of specialized protein nano-domains (cluster phases) in biomembranes

Abstract

We discuss a realistic scenario, accounting for the existence of sub-micrometric protein domains in cell membranes. At the biological level, such membrane domains have been shown to be specialized, in order to perform a determined biological task, in the sense that they gather one or a few protein species out of the hundreds of different ones that a cell membrane may contain. By analyzing the balance between mixing entropy and protein affinities, we propose that such protein sorting in distinct domains can be explained without appealing to pre-existing lipidic micro-phase separations, as in the lipid raft scenario. We show that the proposed scenario is compatible with known physical interactions between membrane proteins, even if thousands of different species coexist.

6 pages, 2 figures, published version

References in corpus (4)

• Membrane-Protein Interactions in a Generic Coarse-Grained Model for Lipid Bilayers
• Cluster phases of membrane proteins
• Biophysical mechanism for Ras-nanocluster formation and signaling in plasma membrane
• Thermodynamics of nano-cluster phases: a unifying theory

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Physical mechanisms of micro- and nanodomain formation in multicomponent lipid membranes
• Attractive asymmetric inclusions in elastic membranes under tension: cluster phases and membrane invaginations
• A rationale for mesoscopic domain formation in biomembranes
• Sorting of multiple molecular species on cell membranes