Force barriers for membrane tube formation

We used optical tweezers to measure the force-extension curve for the formation of tubes from giant vesicles. We show that a significant force barrier exists for the formation of tubes, which increases linearly with the radius of the area on which the pulling force is exerted. The tubes form through...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 94; no. 6; p. 068101
Main Authors Koster, Gerbrand, Cacciuto, Angelo, Derényi, Imre, Frenkel, Daan, Dogterom, Marileen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 18.02.2005
Subjects
Biotin - chemistry
Computer Simulation
Liposomes - chemistry
Membranes - chemistry
Monte Carlo Method
Phosphatidylcholines - chemistry
Phosphatidylethanolamines - chemistry
Polystyrenes - chemistry
Streptavidin - chemistry
Thermodynamics
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Summary:We used optical tweezers to measure the force-extension curve for the formation of tubes from giant vesicles. We show that a significant force barrier exists for the formation of tubes, which increases linearly with the radius of the area on which the pulling force is exerted. The tubes form through a first-order transition with accompanying hysteresis. We confirm these results with Monte Carlo simulations and theoretical calculations. Whether membrane tubes can be formed in, for example, biological cells, thus depends on the details of how forces are applied.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.068101