Related papers: Thermodynamics of Wetting, Prewetting and Surface …
Phase-separated biomolecular condensates with liquid-like properties play a key role in the organization and compartmentalization of the intracellular environment. Condensate-mediated capillary forces acting on membranes drive…
Accurate estimation of surface wettability for various degrees of hydrophobicity becomes increasingly important in the molecular design of membrane. In this paper, we develop simple yet physically realistic model for estimating contact…
Biomolecular condensates constitute a newly recognized form of spatial organization in living cells. Although many condensates are believed to form as a result of phase separation, the physicochemical properties that determine the phase…
In equilibrium and supercooled liquids, polymorphism is manifested by thermodynamic regions defined in the phase diagram, which are predominantly of different short- and medium-range order (local structure). It is found that on the phase…
Biological cells utilize membranes and liquid-like droplets, known as biomolecular condensates, to structure their interior. The interaction of droplets and membranes, despite being involved in several key biological processes, is so far…
The domain formation of curvature-inducing molecules, such as peripheral or transmembrane proteins and conical surfactants, is studied in thermal equilibrium and nonequilibrium steady states using meshless membrane simulations. These…
Under dehydration conditions, amphipathic Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins fold spontaneously from a random conformation into alpha-helical structures and this transition is promoted by the presence of membranes. To gain insight…
The interaction between two adjacent charged surfaces immersed in aqueous solution is known to be affected by charge regulation - the modulation of surface charge as two charged surfaces approach each other. This phenomenon is particularly…
By performing molecular dynamics simulations with up to 132 million coarse-grained particles in half-micron sized boxes, we show that hydrodynamics quantitatively explains the finite-size effects on diffusion of lipids, proteins, and carbon…
In Part II of this study we consider two cases of three-phase coexistence. First, the capped capillary may allow for vapour, drop-like, and slab-like phases to coexist at the same values of temperature and chemical potential. Second, the…
Living tissues undergo wetting transitions: On a surface, they can either form a droplet-like cell aggregate or spread as a monolayer of migrating cells. Tissue wetting depends not only on the chemical but also on the mechanical properties…
We numerically investigate the hydrodynamics and membrane dynamics of multicomponent vesicles in two strongly confined geometries. This serves as a simplified model for red blood cells undergoing large deformations while traversing narrow…
Collective cell motions underlie structure formation during embryonic development. Tissues exhibit emergent multicellular characteristics such as jamming, rigidity transitions, and glassy dynamics, but there remain questions about how those…
Membrane tubulation is a ubiquitous process that occurs both at the plasma membrane and on the membranes of intracellular organelles. These tubulation events are known to be mediated by forces applied on the membrane either due to motor…
Recent research has shown that motile cells can adapt their mode of propulsion to the mechanical properties of the environment in which they find themselves--crawling in some environments while swimming in others. The latter can involve…
Soft membranes are commonly employed in shape-morphing applications, where the material is programmed to achieve a target shape upon activation by an external trigger, and as coating layers that alter the surface characteristics of bulk…
We present a quantitative comparison between extensive Monte Carlo simulations and self-consistent field calculations on the phase diagram and wetting behavior of a symmetric, binary (AB) polymer blend confined into a film. The flat walls…
We propose a model describing the phase behavior of two-component membranes consisting of binary mixtures of electrically charged and neutral lipids. We take into account the structural phase transition (main-transition) of the hydrocarbon…
The calculation of thermodynamic properties of biochemical systems typically requires the use of resource-intensive molecular simulation methods. One example thereof is the thermodynamic profiling of hydration sites, i.e. high-probability…
The cytoplasm and biomembranes in biological cells contain large numbers of proteins that cyclically change their shapes. They are molecular machines that can function as molecular motors or carry out many other tasks in the cell. We…