Modeling anisotropic elasticity of fluid membranes

TL;DR

This paper reviews a triangulated surface model for simulating biological membranes, introduces new surface quantification techniques, and explores how in-plane fields influence membrane shapes, with implications for understanding membrane morphology.

Contribution

It presents new methods for calculating surface quantifiers and investigates the impact of polar and nematic fields on membrane conformations.

Findings

Polar fields induce cylindrical membrane shapes

Nematic fields lead to tetrahedral conformations

New surface quantification techniques facilitate in-plane degree studies

Abstract

The biological membrane, which compartmentalizes the cell and its organelles, exhibit wide variety of macroscopic shapes of varying morphology and topology. A systematic understanding of the relation of membrane shapes to composition, external field, environmental conditions etc. have important biological relevance. Here we review the triangulated surface model, used in the macroscopic simulation of membranes and the associated Monte Carlo (DTMC) methods. New techniques to calculate surface quantifiers, that will facilitate the study of additional in-plane orientational degrees of freedom, has been introduced. The mere presence of a polar and nematic fields in the ordered phase drives the ground state conformations of the membrane to a cylinder and tetrahedron respectively.