By Thomas Heimburg
An outline of contemporary experimental and theoretical advancements within the box of the physics of membranes, together with new insights from the previous decade.The writer makes use of classical thermal physics and actual chemistry to provide an explanation for our present figuring out of the membrane. He appears at area and 'raft' formation, and discusses it within the context of thermal fluctuations that categorical themselves in warmth means and elastic constants. additional subject matters are lipid-protein interactions, protein binding, and the impact of sterols and anesthetics. Many doubtless unrelated homes of membranes are proven to be in detail intertwined, best for example to a coupling among membrane kingdom, area formation and vesicular form. This additionally applies to non-equilibrium phenomena just like the propagation of density pulses in the course of nerve activity.Also integrated is a dialogue of the applying of machine simulations on membranes.For either scholars and researchers of biophysics, biochemistry, actual chemistry, and smooth subject physics.
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Extra resources for Thermal Biophysics of Membranes
Example text
These cylinders pack into a two-dimensional triangular lattice. 6. Cubic phases display crystal packing in three dimensions and yield typical diffraction peaks. In total 36 cubic space groups exist but only six different cubic lipid phases have been found so far. They often display very large spacings corresponding to the packing of vesicle-like subunits. 7. Some cubic phases are bicontinuous. The continuous lipid membrane surface separates two different continuous water volumes. 8. In detergent systems and possibly in some lipid membrane systems sponge phases exist.
This reflects the trend of the melting temperatures of such lipids. Unsaturated lipids melt at significantly lower temperatures than lipids with saturated chains. Tab. 5 Lipid composition as a function of growth temperature: Fatty acid compositions of the membranes of trout livers are given in weight percent of the respective head group species. The trouts were acclimated at 5 ◦ C and 20 ◦ C. Some especially strong changes are highlighted in bold letters. Data are a selection from Hazel (1979). 54 Avery et al.
The lipid composition (and also the protein composition) of different biological membranes is specific for different cell types and even for the different organelles within one cell and it varies considerably. This is true for both head group composition and the chain composition. • The lipid composition is strongly influenced by growth temperature and by ambient pressure. The chain composition adapts such that the melting point of membranes shift in the same direction as the change in either temperature or pressure.