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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 16: Membranes, Vesicles and Synthetic Life-like Systems II

BP 16.6: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 11. März 2026, 11:15–11:30, BAR/0205

Membrane reshaping across the tree of life — •Felix Frey — Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria — Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Across the tree of life, different designs of cellular membranes have evolved that are both stable and flexible. In bacteria and eukaryotes single-headed lipids self-assemble into flexible bilayer membranes. By contrast, archaea have distinct membranes that typically contain mixtures of single-headed bilayer lipids and double-headed bolalipids. While this composition is believed to enable extremophile archaea to survive harsh environments, the physical mechanisms underlying the reshaping of archaeal membranes are often unknown. Here, through the development of coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we systematically compare the different membrane designs [1]. We explore the physical properties of archaeal membranes and explain how their stability and response to reshaping depends on the flexibility of single bolalipids and the amount of bilayer lipids they contain.

[1] M. Amaral*, F. Frey*, X. Jiang, B. Baum, A. Šarić (2025) Balancing stability and flexibility when reshaping archaeal membranes, eLife 14:RP105432, *Equal contributions.

Keywords: Membrane biophysics; Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations; Archaea; Bolalipids