N-body study of anisotropic membrane inclusions: Membrane mediated interactions and ordered aggregation

P. G. Dommersnes; J.-B. Fournier

doi:10.1007/s100510050968

EPJ

N-body study of anisotropic membrane inclusions: Membrane mediated interactions and ordered aggregation

P. G. Dommersnes and J.-B. Fournier^a

Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique, E.S.P.C.I., 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

Received: 30 July 1999
Revised: 8 September 1999
Published online: 15 November 1999

Abstract

We study the collective behavior of inclusions inducing local anisotropic curvatures in a flexible fluid membrane. The N-body interaction energy for general anisotropic inclusions is calculated explicitly, including multi-body interactions. Long-range attractive interactions between inclusions are found to be sufficiently strong to induce aggregation. Monte Carlo simulations show a transition from compact clusters to aggregation on lines or circles. These results might be relevant to proteins in biological membranes or colloidal particles bound to surfactant membranes.

PACS: 87.15.Kg – Molecular interactions; membrane-protein interactions / 64.60.Cn – Order-disorder transformations; statistical mechanics of model systems / 24.10.Cn – Many-body theory