Heinrich Krobath, Bartosz Rozycki, R. Lipowsky, T. R. Weikl,
"Line Tension and Stability of Domains in Cell-Adhesion Zones Mediated by Long and Short Receptor-Ligand Complexes"
, in PLoS ONE, 8-2011, ISSN: 1932-6203
Original Titel:
Line Tension and Stability of Domains in Cell-Adhesion Zones Mediated by Long and Short Receptor-Ligand Complexes
Sprache des Titels:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
Submicron scale domains of membrane-anchored receptors play an important role in cell signaling. Central questions concern the stability of these microdomains, and the mechanisms leading to the domain formation. In immune-cell adhesion zones, microdomains of short receptor-ligand complexes form next to domains of significantly longer receptor-ligand complexes. The length mismatch between the receptor-ligand complexes leads to membrane deformations and has been suggested as a possible cause of the domain formation. The domain formation is a nucleation and growth process that depends on the line tension and free energy of the domains. Using a combination of analytical calculations and Monte Carlo simulations, we derive here general expressions for the line tension between domains of long and short receptor-ligand complexes and for the adhesion free energy of the domains. We argue that the length mismatch of receptor-ligand complexes alone is sufficient to drive the domain formation, and obtain submicron-scale minimum sizes for stable domains that are consistent with the domain sizes observed during immune-cell adhesion.
Forschungs-