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The influence of curvature on membrane domains

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Abstract

An interdependence between local curvature and domain formation has been observed in both cell and model membranes. An implication of this observation is that domain formation in model membranes may be modulated by membrane curvature. In this paper, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is used to examine the influence of membrane curvature (i.e., vesicle size) on the formation of membrane domains. It is found that, although vesicle size and polydispersity are not significantly altered by the formation of membrane domains, the area fraction occupied by domains depends on the overall vesicle size. In particular, increasing membrane curvature (i.e., decreasing vesicle size) results in increased area fractions of membrane domains.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Vini Anghel and Thalia Mills for valuable and enjoyable discussions. This work utilized facilities supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Agreement No. DMR-0454672. We acknowledge the support of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, in providing the neutron research facilities used in this work. Certain commercial equipment, instruments, or materials (or suppliers, or software, ...) are identified in this paper to foster understanding. Such identification does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor does it imply that the materials or equipment identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose.

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Author notes

  1. Jeremy Pencer

    Present address: Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., Building 145, Station 68, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, ON, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council, Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, ON, K0J1J0, Canada

    Jeremy Pencer, Norbert Kučerka, Mu-Ping Nieh & John Katsaras

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Andrew Jackson

  3. NIST Center for Neutron Research, 100 Bureau Drive, Bldg. 235, Stop 6102, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

    Andrew Jackson

  4. Department of Physical Chemistry of Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University, 832 32, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Norbert Kučerka

  5. Guelph–Waterloo Physics Institute and Biophysics Interdepartmental Group, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

    John Katsaras

  6. Department of Physics, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

    John Katsaras

Authors
  1. Jeremy Pencer
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  2. Andrew Jackson
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  3. Norbert Kučerka
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  4. Mu-Ping Nieh
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  5. John Katsaras
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Andrew Jackson or Norbert Kučerka.

Additional information

Advanced neutron scattering and complementary techniques to study biological systems. Contributions from the meetings, “Neutrons in Biology”, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, UK, 11–13 July and “Proteins At Work 2007”, Perugia, Italy, 28–30 May 2007.

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Pencer, J., Jackson, A., Kučerka, N. et al. The influence of curvature on membrane domains. Eur Biophys J 37, 665–671 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-008-0304-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-008-0304-1

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