Lipid membrane domains control actin network viscoelasticity

TL;DR

This study investigates how lipid membrane domains influence the viscoelastic properties of actin networks, revealing shape deformations and relaxation behaviors that could inform the design of tunable biological interfaces.

Contribution

It introduces a model of 2D lipid membrane condensates within viscoelastic actin networks, demonstrating how membrane composition controls network elasticity and plasticity.

Findings

Lipid condensates deform into triangular shapes under stress.

Phase coarsening accelerates network relaxation.

Membrane composition dynamically tunes viscoelastic crossover.

Abstract

The mammalian cell membrane is embedded with biomolecular condensates of protein and lipid clusters, which interact with an underlying viscoelastic cytoskeleton network to organize the cell surface and mechanically interact with the extracellular environment. However, the mechanical and thermodynamic interplay between the viscoelastic network and liquid-liquid phase separation of 2-dimensional (2D) lipid condensates remains poorly understood. Here, we engineer materials composed of 2D lipid membrane condensates embedded within a thin viscoelastic actin network. The network generates localized anisotropic stresses that deform lipid condensates into triangular morphologies with sharp edges and corners, shapes unseen in 3D composite gels. Kinetic coarsening of phase-separating lipid condensates accelerates the viscoelastic relaxation of the network, leading to an effectively softer composite material over intermediate timescales. We dynamically manipulate the membrane composition to control the elastic-to-viscous crossover of the network. Such viscoelastic composite membranes may enable the development of coatings, catalytic surfaces, separation membranes, and other interfaces with tunable spatial organization and plasticity mechanisms.