The fusion of membranes and vesicles: pathway and energy barriers from dissipative particle dynamics.

ABSTRACT: The fusion of lipid bilayers is studied with dissipative particle dynamics simulations. First, to achieve control over membrane properties, the effects of individual simulation parameters are studied and optimized. Then, a large number of fusion events for a vesicle and a planar bilayer are simulated using the optimized parameter set. In the observed fusion pathway, configurations of individual lipids play an important role. Fusion starts with individual lipids assuming a splayed tail configuration with one tail inserted in each membrane. To determine the corresponding energy barrier, we measure the average work for interbilayer flips of a lipid tail, i.e., the average work to displace one lipid tail from one bilayer to the other. This energy barrier is found to depend strongly on a certai

SUBMITTER: Grafmuller A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2711276 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature