Phase-separation transitions in asymmetric lipid bilayers

Abstract: Morphological transitions of phase separation associated with the asymmetry of lipid composition were investigated using micrometer-sized vesicles of lipid bilayers made from a lipid mixture. The complete macro-phase-separated morphology undergoes a transition to a micro-phase-separation-like morphology via a lorate morphology as a metastable state. The transition leads to the emergence of monodisperse nanosized domains through repeated domain scission events. Moreover, we have numerically confirmed the transitions using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model describing phase separation and the bending elastic membrane, which is quantitatively consistent with experimental results by fixing one free parameter. Our findings suggest that the local spontaneous curvature due to the asymmetric composition plays an essential role in the thermodynamic stabilization of micro-phase separation in lipid bilayers.