Domain formation in membranes with quenched protein obstacles: Lateral heterogeneity and the connection to universality classes

Abstract

We show that lateral fluidity in membranes containing quenched protein obstacles belongs to the universality class of the two-dimensional random-field Ising model. The main feature of this class is the absence of a phase transition: there is no critical point, and macroscopic domain formation does not occur. Instead, there is only one phase. This phase is highly heterogeneous, with a structure consisting of micro-domains. The presence of quenched protein obstacles thus provides a mechanism to stabilize lipid rafts in equilibrium. Crucial for two-dimensional random-field Ising universality is that the obstacles are randomly distributed, and have a preferred affinity to one of the lipid species. When these conditions are not met, standard Ising or diluted Ising universality apply. In these cases, a critical point does exist, marking the onset toward macroscopic demixing.

10 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (3)

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• Quenched bond randomness in marginal and non-marginal Ising spin models in 2D
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• Fluids with quenched disorder: Scaling of the free energy barrier near critical points
• Fluid phase separation inside a static periodic field: an effectively two-dimensional critical phenomenon
• Colloids and polymers in random colloidal matrices: demixing under good-solvent conditions
• Fluids in porous media: The case of neutral walls
• The main transition in the Pink membrane model: finite-size scaling and the influence of surface roughness
• Dynamic Phase Transition in 2D Ising Systems: Effect of Anisotropy and Defects
• Transient domain formation in membrane-bound organelles undergoing maturation
• Fluid-fluid demixing curves for colloid-polymer mixtures in a random colloidal matrix