Statistical mechanics of an elastically pinned membrane: Static profile and correlations

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding how a membrane pinned by proteins behaves, focusing on static profiles and correlations, and introduces tools for analyzing membrane fluctuations and interactions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analytical and numerical study of a membrane with elastic pinning, including Green's functions, mode coupling, and correlation analysis, which were not previously comprehensively addressed.

Findings

Membrane shape, correlations, and fluctuations are mutually interdependent.

Correlation length exhibits non-monotonic behavior with membrane tension.

Pinned sites experience an attractive interaction due to fluctuation-mediated forces.

Abstract

The relation between thermal fluctuations and the mechanical response of a free membrane has been explored in great detail, both theoretically and experimentally. However, understanding this relationship for membranes, locally pinned by proteins, is significantly more challenging. Given that the coupling of the membrane to the cell cytoskeleton, the extracellular matrix and to other internal structures is crucial for the regulation of a number of cellular processes, understanding the role of the pinning is of great interest. In this manuscript we consider a single protein (elastic spring of a finite rest length) pinning a membrane modelled in the Monge gauge. First, we determine the Green$'$s function for the system and complement this approach by the calculation of the mode coupling coefficients for the plane wave expansion, and the orthonormal fluctuation modes, in turn building a set of tools for numerical and analytic studies of a pinned membrane. Furthermore, we explore static correlations of the free and the pinned membrane, as well as the membrane shape, showing that all three are mutually interdependent and have an identical long-range behaviour characterised by the correlation length. Interestingly, the latter displays a non-monotonic behaviour as a function of membrane tension. Importantly, exploiting these relations allows for the experimental determination of the elastic parameters of the pinning. Last but not least, we calculate the interaction potential between two pinning sites and show that, even in the absence of the membrane deformation, the pinnings will be subject to an attractive force due to changes in membrane fluctuations.