Role of the membrane for mechanosensing by tethered channels

Physical limits on cellular directional mechanosensing

Many eukaryotic cells are able to perform directional mechanosensing by directly measuring minute spatial differences in the mechanical stress on their membranes. Here, we explore the limits of a single mechanosensitive channel activation using a two-state double-well model for the gating mechanism. We then focus on the physical limits of directional mechanosensing by a single cell having multiple mechanosensors and subjected to a shear flow inducing a nonuniform membrane tension. Our results demonstrate that the accuracy in sensing the mechanostimulus direction not only increases with cell si…

Binding of curvature-inducing proteins onto tethered vesicles

A tethered vesicle, which consists of a cylindrical membrane tube and a spherical vesicle, is produced by a mechanical force that is experimentally imposed by optical tweezers and a micropipette. This tethered vesicle is employed for examining the curvature sensing of curvature-inducing proteins. In this study, we clarify how the binding of proteins with a laterally isotropic spontaneous curvature senses and generates the membrane curvatures of the tethered vesicle using mean-field theory and meshless membrane simulation. The force-dependence curves of the protein density in the membrane tube …

自回避的栓塞表面始终是平坦的

Self-avoiding tethered surfaces are always flat

研究显示，即使在无弯曲刚度的情况下，自回避栓塞表面在热力学极限下仍保持平坦，尺寸指数为ν=1。

中子反射法揭示抗菌肽在系链脂质双层中诱导的机械敏感蛋白构象变化

Neutron Reflectometry Reveals Conformational Changes in a Mechanosensitive Protein Induced by an Antimicrobial Peptide in Tethered Lipid Bilayers

本研究利用中子反射法首次直接证明抗菌肽pexiganan可诱导机械敏感蛋白MscL的C末端突出部分发生构象变化，突出长度从约46 Å降至约38 Å。