Mechanical interaction between lipid membrane nanotubes and confined nanoparticles plays essential roles in many cellular activities such as inter- and intracellular transport and signaling, membrane tubulation and pearling transformation, and cooperative cell uptake. Here we present our recent theoretical work on how architectures and mechanical behaviors of particle-in-tube complexes are regulated by particle rigidity, focusing on the cases of a single particle and multiple particles in the lipid membrane nanotube. Depending on the interplay of membrane tension, adhesion energy, nanoparticle size, and the rigidity ratio between the nanoparticles and soft tubes, characteristic interaction states in terms of wrapping degrees of the confined particles have been identified, and a rich variety of characteristic system configurations are observed including the bulged or undulated cylinders, necklaces of spheres or prolates, and sausage-string shapes. Moreover, two fundamental modes of interaction between multiple nanoparticles and the lipid membrane nanotube are revealed, the cooperative wrapping and individual wrapping, depending on the membrane tension and particle elasticity/shape. Based on configurational assumptions of catenoid and toroidal deformation of the soft tube, we have also obtained analytical solutions on the wrapping of rigid nanoparticles in soft tubes. This study enriches our knowledge on the diversity of membrane tubules in morphologies and architectures. 

Structures and Mechanical Behaviors of Soft Membrane Nanotubes Containing Elastic Nanoparticles

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