Coarse grained molecular simulations of membrane adhesion domains
arXiv:1406.5713 · doi:10.1063/1.4886397
Abstract
We use a coarse grained molecular model of supported lipid bilayers to study the formation of adhesion domains. We find that this process is a first order phase transition, triggered by a combination of pairwise short range attractive interactions between the adhesion bonds and many-body Casimir-like interactions, mediated by the membrane thermal undulations. The simulation results display an excellent agreement with the recently proposed Weil-Farago 2D lattice model, in which the occupied and empty sites represent, respectively, the adhesion bonds and unbound segments of the membrane. A second phase transition, into a hexatic phase, is observed when the attraction between the adhesion bonds is further strengthened.
6 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phys