Biological signaling by interfacial sound pulses. A physics approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel physical mechanism for biological signaling via interfacial sound pulses in lipid membranes, enabling rapid, non-transport-based communication between membrane proteins at the speed of sound.

Contribution

It demonstrates that sound pulses in lipid interfaces can control membrane enzyme activity, providing a new physical framework for biological signaling beyond molecular diffusion.

Findings

Sound pulses propagate along lipid interfaces at ~1 m/s.

Sound pulses can modulate activity of membrane enzymes.

Biological signaling can occur through physical perturbations, not just molecular transport.

Abstract

Biological signaling is imagined as a combination of activation and transport. The former is triggered by local molecular interactions and the latter is the result of molecular diffusion. However, other fundamental physical principles of communication have yet to be addressed. We have recently shown, that lipid interfaces allow for the excitation and propagation of sound pulses. Here we demonstrate, that these reversible perturbations can control the activity of membrane embedded enzymes without the necessity of molecular transport. They therefore allow for the rapid communication between distant biological entities (e.g. receptor and enzyme) at the speed of sound, which is here in the order of 1 m/s within the membrane. The mechanism reported provides a new physical framework for biological signaling.