Near-critical fluctuations and cytoskeleton-assisted phase separation lead to subdiffusion in cell membranes
arXiv:1010.1207 · doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2010.11.002
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.
21 pages, 5 figures; Supporting Material 5 pages, 1 figure, 1 table