FIGURE 3.
The differential energy of adsorption (a), and free energy of adsorption (b), of a flexible macromolecule adsorbing on a membrane of lipid composition PC:PS:PIP2 = 98:1:1. The value z1 is the distance of the first polymer segment from the membrane plane. The solid, dashed, and dotted curves correspond to the fluid, frozen, and uniformly charged membranes, respectively. The dotted-dashed curve in b is for a weakly charged (z = +1/2) polymer interacting with a fluid membrane. The free energy change corresponding to this polymer is not shown because it very nearly overlaps the dotted curve in a.