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Physics of biological membranes

  • III. Biomembranes and Nonequilibrium Phenomena
  • Conference paper
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Physics in Living Matter

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 284))

Abstract

The biological membrane is a complex system consisting of an aqueous biomolecular planar aggregate of predominantly lipid and protein molecules. At physiological temperatures, the membrane may be considered a thin (∼50Å) slab of anisotropic fluid characterized by a high lateral mobility of the various molecular components. A substantial fraction of biological activity takes place in association with membranes. As a very lively piece of condensed matter, the biological membrane is a challenging research topic for both the experimental and theoretical physicists who are facing a number of fundamental physical problems including molecular self-organization, macromolecular structure and dynamics, inter-macromolecular interactions, structure-function relationships, transport of energy and matter, and interfacial forces. This paper will present a brief review of recent theoretical and experimental progress on such problems, with special emphasis on lipid bilayer structure and dynamics, lipid phase transitions, lipid-protein and lipid-cholesterol interactions, intermembrane forces, and the physical constraints imposed on biomembrane function and evolution. The paper advocates the dual point of view that there are a number of interesting physics problems in membranology and, at the same time, that the physical properties of biomembranes are important regulators of membrane function.

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  1. Department of Structural Properties of Materials, The Technical University of Denmark, Building 307, DK-2800, Lyngby, Denmark

    Ole G. Mouritsen

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  1. Ole G. Mouritsen
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Dionys Baeriswyl Michel Droz Andreas Malaspinas Piero Martinoli

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© 1987 Springer-Verlag

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Mouritsen, O.G. (1987). Physics of biological membranes. In: Baeriswyl, D., Droz, M., Malaspinas, A., Martinoli, P. (eds) Physics in Living Matter. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 284. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0009211

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0009211

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