Polyhedral vesicles

TL;DR

This study uses Brownian dynamics simulations to explore how polyhedral shapes form in vesicles with high bending rigidity, revealing the influence of spontaneous curvature on their morphology and defect structures.

Contribution

It demonstrates how spontaneous curvature controls polyhedral vesicle shapes and characterizes the types of line defects present at different curvatures.

Findings

Polyhedral vesicles exhibit tetrahedral and cubic shapes.

Line defects depend on the spontaneous curvature, with cracks in monolayers.

Inner monolayer curvature varies with defect type.

Abstract

Polyhedral vesicles with a large bending modulus of the membrane such as the gel phase lipid membrane were studied using a Brownian dynamics simulation. The vesicles exhibit various polyhedral morphologies such as tetrahedron and cube shapes. We clarified two types of line defects on the edges of the polyhedrons: cracks of both monolayers at the spontaneous curvature of monolayer $C_{\text {0}}<0$, and a crack of the inner monolayer at $C_{\text {0}}\ge0$. Around the latter defect, the inner monolayer curves positively. Our results suggested that the polyhedral morphology is controlled by $C_{\text {0}}$.