Eur. Phys. J. E (2008) 26: 295-300
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2007-10325-x

Regular Article

Shape optimization in lipid nanotube networks

¹ Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Microtechnology Centre, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden
² MSC, Université Paris Diderot, 10, rue Alice Domon et Léonie Duquet, F-75205, Paris, France
³ Odinsgatan 9, Jeppesen Systems AB, 41103, Göteborg, Sweden
⁴ UMR 168, Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, F-75248, Paris, France

^* e-mail: orwar@chembio.chalmers.se

Received: 17 October 2007
Accepted: 22 April 2008
Published online: 26 May 2008

Abstract

Starting from a high surface free-energy state, lipid nanotube networks are capable to self-organize into tree-like structures with particular geometrical features. In this work we analyze the process of self-organization in such networks, and report a strong similarity to the Euclidian Steiner Tree Problem (ESTP). ESTP is a well-known NP-hard optimization problem of finding a network connecting a given set of terminal points on a plane, allowing addition of auxiliary points, with the overall objective to minimize the total network length. The present study shows that aggregate lipid structures self-organize into geometries that correspond to locally optimal solutions to such problems.