Bilayers curvature

The possibility that changes in bilayer curvature might be implicated in the gating of mechanosensitive channels was motivated by the observation that addition of amphiphiles to one side of the membrane can... 

Gruner SM. Coupling between bilayer curvature elasticity and membrane-protein activity. In Biomembrane Electrochemistry, Volume 235. Blank M, Vodyanoy I, eds. 1994. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. pp. 129-149. 

The second possibility of gating MS channels by bilayer tension takes into consideration changes in intrinsic bilayer curvature as a possible trigger for the channel opening (Fig. 3). Experiments on bacterial MS channels suggested that a diverse group of substances with amphipathic or amphiphilic properties... 

Figure 3 Possible mechanisms of MS channel activation by bilayer deformation forces. Hydrophobic mismatch and bilayer curvature are considered as deformation forces of pressure-induced changes in the lipid bilayer causing conformational changes in MS channels as indicated by the example of MscL (13). These changes were studied experimentally by reconstituting purified MscL proteins in liposome bilayers prepared from synthetic phosphatidylcholine lipids of well-defined composition. The changes in functional properties were examined by the patch-clamp technique, whereas the structural changes were determined by EPR and FRET spectroscopy. (Reproduced from Reference 12, with permission).

The lipid bilayer is not passive in determining membrane protein activity and function, and an accumulating body of evidence indicates that there is a coupling of membrane proteins to lipid bilayer properties. These properties include the effect of bilayer curvature strain (20), the role of specific lipids such as phosphoinositides, (21) and the effect of thickness on membrane protein function (22). The lipid composition, as well as the bilayer properties that result from this composition, act as allosteric regulators of membrane protein function. 

On intrinsic periodic bilayer curvature in membrane function A model membrane bilayer phase transition involving periodic curvature... 

H. L. Scott and S.-L. Chemg, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 510, 209 (1978). Monte Carlo Studies of Phospholipid Lamellae. Effects of Proteins, Cholesterol, Bilayer Curvature and Lateral Mobility on Order Parameters. 

Coupling between Bilayer Curvature Elasticity and Membrane Protein Activity... 

Fig. 6.1. Flexoelectric (curvature-induced) polarization Pg and the sign convention for the flexocoefficient / for the case shown / will be positive, fti, R2 are the principal radii of the bilayer curvature (from Petrov, with kind permission from Taylor and FVancis Group).

Bigay, J., Gounon, P., Robineau, S., and Antonny, B. (2003). Lipid packing sensed by ArfGAPl couples COPI coat disassembly to membrane bilayer curvature. Nature 426, 563-566. 

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