https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-023-00359-7
Regular Article – Living Systems
Characterizing the heterogeneity of membrane liquid-ordered domains
1
Department of Theoretical Physics, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2
Biomedical Engineering Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel
Received:
9
August
2023
Accepted:
27
September
2023
Published online:
17
October
2023
We use a lattice model of a ternary mixture containing saturated and unsaturated lipids with cholesterol (Chol), to study the structural properties characterizing the coexistence between the liquid-disordered and liquid-ordered phases. Depending on the affinity of the saturated and unsaturated lipids, the system may exhibit macroscopic (thermodynamic) liquid–liquid phase separation or be divided into small-size liquid-ordered domains surrounded by a liquid-disordered matrix. In both cases, it is found that the nanoscale structure of the liquid-ordered regions is heterogeneous, and that they are partitioned into Chol-rich sub-domains and Chol-free, gel-like, nano-clusters. This emerges as a characteristic feature of the liquid-ordered state, which helps distinguishing between liquid-ordered domains in a two-phase mixture, and similar-looking domains in a one-phase mixture that are rich in saturated lipids and Chol, but are merely thermal density fluctuations. The nano-structure heterogeneity of the liquid-ordered phase can be detected by suitable experimental spectroscopic methods and is observed also in atomistic computer simulations.
Oded Farago is deeply grateful to Prof. Philip (Fyl) Pincus for being his postdoctoral mentor many years ago, and for his continued support in his academic career. Working with Fyl has shaped my approach to physics in the most impactful way.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
