Related papers: Membrane tension lowering induced by protein activ…
Tissue-scale shape changes are driven by ensembles of intracellular forces. However measuring force in these contexts remains a difficult challenge. Here we perform spectral analysis of transverse fluctuations of cell-cell junctions in…
The complex interplay between the various attractive and repulsive forces that mediate between biological membranes governs an astounding array of biological functions: cell adhesion, membrane fusion, self-assembly, binding-unbinding…
The eukaryotic flagellum beats periodically, driven by the oscillatory dynamics of molecular motors, to propel cells and pump fluids. Small, but perceivable fluctuations in the beat of individual flagella have physiological implications for…
Utilising Onsager's variational formulation, we derive dynamical equations for the relaxation of a fluid membrane tube in the limit of small deformation, allowing for a contrast of solvent viscosity across the membrane and variations in…
Transport of molecules across membrane channels is investigated theoretically using exactly solvable one-dimensional discrete-state stochastic models. An interaction between molecules and membrane pores is modeled via a set of binding sites…
We present experimental evidence for a long-range protein-protein interaction in purple membrane (PM). The interprotein dynamics were quantified by measuring the spectrum of the acoustic phonons in the 2D bacteriorhodopsin (BR) protein…
Two different tensions can be defined for a fluid membrane: the internal tension, $\gamma$, conjugated to the real membrane area in the Hamiltonian, and the frame tension, $\tau$, conjugated to the projected (or frame) area. According to…
We use scaling arguments and coarse grained Monte Carlo simulations to study the fluctuation mediated interactions between a pair of adhesion sites of a bilayer membrane and a supporting surface. We find that the potential of mean force is…
The viscosity of lipid bilayer membranes plays an important role in determining the diffusion constant of embedded proteins and the dynamics of membrane deformations, yet it has historically proven very difficult to measure. Here we…
We study the elastic response of bilayer membranes with fixed projected area to both stretching and shape deformations. A surface tension is associated to each of these deformations. By using model amphiphilic membranes and computer…
A study is made of how active membrane proteins can modify the long wavelength mechanics of fluid membranes. The activity of the proteins is modelled as disturbing the protein surroundings through non-local force distributions of which a…
Active motions of a biological membrane can be induced by non-thermal fluctuations that occur in the outer environment of the membrane. We discuss the dynamics of a membrane interacting hydrodynamically with an active wall that exerts…
Fluctuation spectra of fluid compound membrane systems are calculated. The systems addressed contain two (or more) almost parallel membranes that are connected by harmonic tethers or by a continuous, harmonic confining potential.…
Lipid bilayers forming biological membranes are known to behave as viscous 2D fluids on submicrometer scales; usually they contain a large number of active protein inclusions. Recently, it has been shown [Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 112,…
The free energetics of water density fluctuations near a surface, and the rare low-density fluctuations in particular, serve as reliable indicators of surface hydrophobicity; the easier it is to displace the interfacial waters, the more…
We apply recent results on the probability distribution for quantum stress tensor fluctuations to the problem of barrier penetration by quantum particles. The probability for large stress tensor fluctuations decreases relatively slowly with…
Bacteria meticulously regulate their intracellular ion concentrations and create ionic concentration gradients across the bacterial membrane. These ionic concentration gradients provide free energy for many cellular processes and are…
Red blood cells (RBCs) sustain mechanical stresses associated with microcirculatory flow through ATP-driven plasma membrane flickering. This is an active phenomenon driven by motor proteins that regulate interactions between the spectrin…
Ultrasound is increasingly being used to modulate the properties of biological membranes for applications in drug delivery and neuromodulation. While various studies have investigated the mechanical aspect of the interaction such as…
This paper presents a short selective review of the non-thermal weak microwave field impact on a nerve fiber. The published results of recent experiments are reviewed and analyzed. The theory of the authors is presented, according to which…