Biomimetic and biological membranes consist of molecular bilayers with two leaflets which are typically exposed to different aqueous environments and may differ in their molecular density or composition. Because of these asymmetries, the membranes prefer to curve in a certain manner as quantitatively described by their spontaneous curvature. Here, we study such asymmetric membranes via coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. We consider two mechanisms for the generation of spontaneous curvature: (i) different lipid densities within the two leaflets and (ii) leaflets exposed to different concentrations of adsorbing particles. We focus on membranes that experience no mechanical tension and describe two methods to compute the spontaneous curvature. The first method is based on the detailed structure of the bilayer’s stress profile which can hardly be measured experimentally. The other method starts from the intuitive view that the bilayer represents a thin fluid film bounded by two interfaces and reduces the complexity of the stress profile to a few membrane parameters that can be measured experimentally. For the case of asymmetric adsorption, we introduce a simulation protocol based on two bilayers separated by two aqueous compartments with different adsorbate concentrations. The adsorption of small particles with a size below 1 nm is shown to generate large spontaneous curvatures up to about 1/(24 nm). Our computational approach is quite general: it can be applied to any molecular model of bilayer membranes and can be extended to other mechanisms for the generation of spontaneous curvatures as provided, e.g., by asymmetric lipid composition or depletion layers of solute molecules.

ESCRT-I is required for the sorting of integral membrane proteins to the lysosome, or vacuole in yeast, for cytokinesis in animal cells, and for the budding of HIV-1 from human macrophages and T lymphocytes. ESCRT-I is a heterotetramer of Vps23, Vps28, Vps37, and Mvb12. The crystal structures of the core complex and the ubiquitin E2 variant and Vps28 C-terminal domains have been determined, but internal flexibility has prevented crystallization of intact ESCRT-I. Here we have characterized the structure of ESCRT-I in solution by simultaneous structural refinement against small-angle X-ray scattering and double electron–electron resonance spectroscopy of spin-labeled complexes. An ensemble of at least six structures, comprising an equally populated mixture of closed and open conformations, was necessary to fit all of the data. This structural ensemble was cross-validated against single-molecule FRET spectroscopy, which suggested the presence of a continuum of open states. ESCRT-I in solution thus appears to consist of an approximately 50% population of one or a few related closed conformations, with the other 50% populating a continuum of open conformations. These conformations provide reference points for the structural pathway by which ESCRT-I induces membrane buds.

Cell membranes interact via anchored receptor and ligand molecules. Central questions on cell adhesion concern the binding affinity of these membrane-anchored molecules, the mechanisms leading to the receptor–ligand domains observed during adhesion, and the role of cytoskeletal and other active processes. In this review, these questions are addressed from a theoretical perspective. We focus on models in which the membranes are described as elastic sheets, and the receptors and ligands as anchored molecules. In these models, the thermal membrane roughness on the nanometre scale leads to a cooperative binding of anchored receptor and ligand molecules, since the receptor–ligand binding smoothens out the membranes and facilitates the formation of additional bonds. Patterns of receptor domains observed in Monte Carlo simulations point towards a joint role of spontaneous and active processes in cell adhesion. The interactions mediated by the receptors and ligand molecules can be characterized by effective membrane adhesion potentials that depend on the concentrations and binding energies of the molecules.