The influence of curvature on the properties of the plasma membrane. Insights from atomistic molecular dynamics simulations.

ABSTRACT: In this work we conduct a systematic analysis of the influence of curvature on various properties of a realistic model of mammalian plasma membrane with asymmetric lipid content of monolayers and a realistic concentration of cholesterol. In order to do this we developed new technique for simulating membranes with the global membrane curvature restricted to any desirable value while keeping free lateral diffusion of the lipids and without introducing artifacts or perturbing the membrane structure. We show that the thickness of the hydrophobic core of the concave monolayer decreases by approximately 1.3 Å in comparison to that of the flat membrane, while the thickness of the convex monolayer does not change. The order parameter of the lipid tails decreases significantly in the certain layers

SUBMITTER: Yesylevskyy SO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5700167 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature