Two- or three-step assembly of banana-shaped proteins coupled with shape transformation of lipid membranes

Abstract: BAR superfamily proteins have a banana-shaped domain that causes the local bending of lipid membranes. We study as to how such a local anisotropic curvature induces effective interaction between proteins and changes the global shape of vesicles and membrane tubes using meshless membrane simulations. The proteins are modeled as banana-shaped rods strongly adhered to the membrane. Our study reveals that the rods assemble via two continuous directional phase separations unlike a conventional two-dimensional phase separation. As the rod curvature increases, in the membrane tube the rods assemble along the azimuthal direction and subsequently along the longitudinal direction accompanied by shape transformation of the tube. In the vesicle, in the addition to these two assembly processes, further increase in the rod curvature induces tubular scaffold formation.