Stable patterns of membrane domains at corrugated substrates

TL;DR

This paper investigates how membrane domain patterns are stabilized on corrugated substrates due to the interplay of topography, bending rigidity, and line tension, supported by theoretical and simulation results.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model explaining stable membrane domain patterns on corrugated substrates, aligning with recent experiments and suggesting control mechanisms.

Findings

Corrugated substrates truncate phase separation in membranes.

Stable domain patterns depend on bending rigidity contrast.

Theoretical results agree with experimental observations.

Abstract

Multi-component membranes such as ternary mixtures of lipids and cholesterol can exhibit coexistence regions between two liquid phases. When such membranes adhere to a corrugated substrate, the phase separation process strongly depends on the interplay between substrate topography, bending rigidities, and line tension of the membrane domains as we show theoretically via energy minimization and Monte Carlo simulations. For sufficiently large bending rigidity contrast between the two membrane phases, the corrugated substrate truncates the phase separation process and leads to a stable pattern of membrane domains. Our theory is consistent with recent experimental observations and provides a possible control mechanism for domain patterns in biological membranes.