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Department of Biological Sciences and Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, Canada
E-mail: s.baoukina@ucalgary.ca
Faraday Discuss., 2013,161, 63-75
DOI:
10.1039/C2FD20117H
Received
10 Jun 2012,
Accepted
04 Jul 2012
First published online
10 Oct 2012
We used computer simulations to investigate the properties of model lipid membranes with coexisting phases. This is relevant for understanding lipid–lipid interactions underlying lateral organization in biological membranes. Molecular dynamics simulations with the MARTINI coarse-grained force field were employed to study lipid bilayers 40 nm in lateral dimension on a 20 μs time scale. The simulations retain near atomic-level detail and lipid chemical specificity, and allow formation of multiple domains of tens of nanometers in size. Using ternary lipid mixtures of saturated and unsaturated lipids and cholesterol, we reproduced the coexistence of the Lα/gel phases and the Lo/Ld phases. Phase transformation proceeded by either nucleation or spinodal decomposition. The properties of coexisting phases were characterized in detail, including partial lipid areas, composition, phase boundary and domain registry, based on Voronoi tessellation. We investigated variations of these properties with temperature and surface tension, and compared them to our recent simulations of lipid monolayers of the same size and composition. We found substantial overlap in bilayer and monolayer properties. Increasing the temperature in bilayers produced similar effects as increasing the surface tension in monolayers. This information can be used for interpreting experimental data on model membranes.
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