Lateral phase separation of confined membranes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how intermediate stickers and confinement influence the lateral phase separation of membranes, revealing that intermediate stickers suppress phase separation and that confinement affects membrane phase behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field approach to analyze the impact of intermediate stickers and confinement on membrane phase separation, highlighting new mechanisms of membrane regulation.

Findings

Intermediate stickers increase the critical potential depth needed for phase separation.

Intermediate stickers suppress lateral phase separation.

Confinement influences the phase behavior of membranes.

Abstract

We consider membranes interacting via short, intermediate and long stickers. The effects of the intermediate stickers on the lateral phase separation of the membranes are studied via mean-field approximation. The critical potential depth of the stickers increases in the presence of the intermediate sticker. The lateral phase separation of the membrane thus suppressed by the intermediate stickers. Considering membranes interacting with short and long stickers, the effect of confinement on the phase behavior of the membranes is also investigated analytically.