Aggregation of proteins in membranes. An example of fluctuation-induced interactions in liquid crystals

Abstract

The aggregation of proteins in membranes accompanied by a higher elasticity of the membrane in the vicinity of the proteins and a shift of the crystalline-liquid crystalline phase transition to higher temperatures is shown to be caused by an indirect interaction between the "annuli" of proteins. In the neighborhood of proteins the order-parameter fluctuations will be decreased, building a region of relative stability, which lowers the free energy of the system. On the base of a linear response approximation an effective potential is defined and an explicit expression for the distance-dependent interaction of two cylindrical model proteins is derived. Copyright © 1977 American Institute of Physics.