Elastic moderation of intrinsically applied tension in lipid membranes

TL;DR

This paper develops a theory explaining how internal factors like electric potential or protein activity can modulate tension in lipid membranes through elastic stretching, especially when membranes are initially floppy.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for understanding internal tension regulation in lipid membranes via elastic stretching mechanisms.

Findings

Internal tension contributions are moderated through elastic stretching.

The theory applies to membranes initially in a low tension floppy state.

Provides insights into tension regulation by membrane proteins and electric potential.

Abstract

Tension in lipid membranes is often controlled externally, by pulling on the boundary of the membrane or changing osmotic pressure across a curved membrane. But modifications of the tension can also be induced in an internal fashion, for instance as a byproduct of changing a membranes electric potential or, as observed experimentally, by activity of membrane proteins. Here we develop a theory which demonstrate how such internal contributions to the tension are moderated through elastic stretching of the membrane when the membrane is initially in a low tension floppy state.