Membrane-bending proteins (pink) quickly aggregate and vesiculate a membrane (blue/yellow) in silico.
DESERNO/MACMILLAN
The energy required for membrane reshaping—as needed for endocytosis, vesiculation, etc.—is too great for one membrane-bending protein alone to achieve, so cooperation is essential. How cooperation occurs, however, has been a bit of a mystery.
Part of the mystery stems from previous theoretical calculations that predicted that curves induced by a membrane-bending protein repel other proteins of its kind. Experimental systems, on the other hand, suggested that membrane curving might be enough to aggregate the responsible proteins. Ruling out other specific protein–protein interactions is difficult, however.
Now, in silico simulations by Reynwar et al. show that, as suggested by experimentation, curves can be...
