Protein crowding on biomembranes: analysis of contour instabilities

Abstract

Collective behavior of proteins on biomembranes is usually studied within the spontaneous curvature model. Here we consider an alternative phenomenological approach, which accounts consistently for partial ordering of proteins as well as the anchoring forces exerted on a membrane by layer of proteins. We show analytically that such anisotropic interactions can drive membrane bending, resulting in non-trivial equilibrium morphologies. The predicted instabilities can advance our conceptual understanding of physical mechanisms behind collective phenomena in biological systems, in particular those with inherent anisotropy.