Biology subjects

Staykova, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Staykova, M..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Patterning of membrane adhesion under hydraulic stress

Hydraulic fracturing plays a major role in the formation of biological lumens during embryonic development, when the accumulation of pressurized fluid leads to the formation of microlumens that fracture cell-cell contacts and later evolve to form a single large lumen. However, the physical principles underpinning the formation of a pattern of microlumens from a pristine adhesion and their subsequent coarsening are poorly understood. Here, we use giant unilamellar vesicles adhered to a supported lipid bilayer and subjected to osmotic stress to generate and follow the dynamics of hydraulic fracturing akin to those in cells. Using this simplified system together with theoretical modelling and numerical simulations, we provide a mechanistic understanding of the nucleation of hydraulic cracks, their spatial patterns and their coarsening dynamics. Besides coarsening, we show that microlumens can irreversibly bud out of the membrane, reminiscent of endocytic vesicles in cell-cell adhesion. By establishing the physics of patterning and dynamics of hydraulic cracks, our work unveils the mechanical constraints for the biological regulation of hydraulically-driven adhesion remodeling.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2020

Dynamic Mechanochemical feedback between curvedmembranes and BAR protein self-organization

In many physiological situations, BAR proteins interact with, and reshape, pre-existing curved membranes, contributing to essential cellular processes. However, the non-equilibrium and timedependent process of reshaping, and its dependence on initial membrane shape, remains largely unknown. Here we explain, both experimentally and through modelling, how a BAR protein dynamically interacts with mechanically bent lipid membranes. We capture protein binding to curved membranes, and characterize a variety of dynamical reshaping events depending on membrane shape and protein arrangement. The events can be generally understood by an isotropic-to-nematic phase transition, in which low curvature templates with isotropic protein orientation progress towards highly curved lipid tubes with nematic protein arrangement. Our findings also apply in cells, where mechanical stretch triggers BAR-protein-membrane interactions that enable potential mechanotransduction mechanisms. Our results characterize and broaden the reshaping processes of BAR proteins on mechanically constrained membranes, demonstrating the interplay between membrane mechanical stimuli and BAR protein response.

biophysics↗