Diverse biological functions of biomembranes are made possible by their rich dynamical behaviors across multiple scales. While the potential coupling between the dynamics of differing scales may underlie the machineries regulating the biomembrane-involving processes, the mechanism and even the existence of this coupling remains an open question, despite the latter being taken for granted. Via inelastic neutron scattering, we examined dynamics across multiple scales for the lipid membranes whose dynamic behaviors were perturbed by configurational changes at two membrane regions. Surprisingly, the dynamic behavior of individual lipid molecules and their collective motions were not always coupled. This suggests that the expected causal relation between the dynamics of the differing hierarchical levels does not exist and that an apparent coupling can emerge by manipulating certain membrane configurations. The finding provides insight on biomembrane modeling and how cells might individually or concertedly control the multiscale membrane dynamics to regulate their functions.

Uncoupling between the lipid membrane dynamics of differing hierarchical levels

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.