Understanding membrane curvature-induced lipid sorting through molecular simulation

通过分子模拟了解膜曲率诱导的脂质分选

• 批准号: NE/V010026/1
• 负责人: Christian Lorenz
• 金额: $ 1.31万
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FV010026%2F1
• 关键词: Understanding; membrane; curvature; induced; lipid

EPSRC : Paul Smith : EP/N509498/1Lipids are biological molecules that have hydrophobic tails and hydrophilic headgroups. Along with proteins, lipids constitute the complex fluid mixture of biological cell membranes. There are hundreds of types of lipids in cell membranes, each with a different combination of tail and headgroup, and many serving important biological functions. The lateral organization of lipids - the way in which different lipid types mix with one another - also serves important but poorly understood biological roles, including providing platforms for transmitting signals across the membrane.Physics-based computer simulations offer a unique opportunity to study biological structures at sub-nanometer resolution. We will use computer simulations to systematically study the effect of curvature on lipid mixing and the local physical properties of the membrane. This will both add to our general understanding of membrane biophysics as well as allow us to better model the behavior of complex biological structures like red blood cells.

EPSRC：Paul Smith：EP/N509498/1脂质是具有疏水性尾部和亲水性头部基团的生物分子。沿着蛋白质，脂质构成生物细胞膜的复杂流体混合物。细胞膜中有数百种类型的脂质，每种都有不同的尾基和头基组合，许多都具有重要的生物学功能。脂质的横向组织-不同脂质类型相互混合的方式-也具有重要但知之甚少的生物学作用，包括提供跨膜传输信号的平台。基于物理的计算机模拟提供了以亚纳米分辨率研究生物结构的独特机会。我们将使用计算机模拟来系统地研究曲率对脂质混合和膜的局部物理性质的影响。这将增加我们对膜生物物理学的一般理解，并使我们能够更好地模拟红细胞等复杂生物结构的行为。