Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1988 Sep;85(17):6353–6357. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.17.6353

Self-organization of the fluid mosaic of charged channel proteins in membranes.

P Fromherz 1
PMCID: PMC281969  PMID: 2457911

Abstract

Electrically charged ion channels in a fluid membrane may form dissipative structures driven by a concentration gradient of salt. On a molecular level the effect is due to dissipative attractive forces; the channel currents induce local gradients of the membrane potential that interact with the protein charge. Self-organization by "charged channel condensation" is treated on a phenomenological level: Smoluchowski's equation describing diffusion and drift of the membrane proteins and Kelvin's equation describing the dynamics of the membrane potential are considered as a coupled system of equations. The patterns of the two morphogens, the membrane protein and the membrane potential, are controlled by global parameters--the average density of charged channels, the level of their reversal potential, and the size of the membrane.

Full text

PDF
6353

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Crick F. Diffusion in embryogenesis. Nature. 1970 Jan 31;225(5231):420–422. doi: 10.1038/225420a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. De Loof A. The electrical dimension of cells: the cell as a miniature electrophoresis chamber. Int Rev Cytol. 1986;104:251–352. doi: 10.1016/s0074-7696(08)61927-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gierer A., Meinhardt H. A theory of biological pattern formation. Kybernetik. 1972 Dec;12(1):30–39. doi: 10.1007/BF00289234. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. HODGKIN A. L., HUXLEY A. F. A quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve. J Physiol. 1952 Aug;117(4):500–544. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1952.sp004764. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hladky S. B., Haydon D. A. Discreteness of conductance change in bimolecular lipid membranes in the presence of certain antibiotics. Nature. 1970 Jan 31;225(5231):451–453. doi: 10.1038/225451a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Jaffe L. F. Electrophoresis along cell membranes. Nature. 1977 Feb 17;265(5595):600–602. doi: 10.1038/265600a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Jaffe L. F. The role of ionic currents in establishing developmental pattern. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1981 Oct 7;295(1078):553–566. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1981.0160. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Keller E. F., Segel L. A. Initiation of slime mold aggregation viewed as an instability. J Theor Biol. 1970 Mar;26(3):399–415. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(70)90092-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McCloskey M., Poo M. M. Protein diffusion in cell membranes: some biological implications. Int Rev Cytol. 1984;87:19–81. doi: 10.1016/s0074-7696(08)62439-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McLaughlin S., Poo M. M. The role of electro-osmosis in the electric-field-induced movement of charged macromolecules on the surfaces of cells. Biophys J. 1981 Apr;34(1):85–93. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(81)84838-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Neher E., Sakmann B. Single-channel currents recorded from membrane of denervated frog muscle fibres. Nature. 1976 Apr 29;260(5554):799–802. doi: 10.1038/260799a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Peters R., Cherry R. J. Lateral and rotational diffusion of bacteriorhodopsin in lipid bilayers: experimental test of the Saffman-Delbrück equations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jul;79(14):4317–4321. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.14.4317. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Poo M., Robinson K. R. Electrophoresis of concanavalin A receptors along embryonic muscle cell membrane. Nature. 1977 Feb 17;265(5595):602–605. doi: 10.1038/265602a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Saffman P. G., Delbrück M. Brownian motion in biological membranes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Aug;72(8):3111–3113. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.8.3111. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Segel L. A., Stoeckly B. Instability of a layer of chemotactic cells, attractant and degrading enzyme. J Theor Biol. 1972 Dec;37(3):561–585. doi: 10.1016/0022-5193(72)90091-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Singer S. J., Nicolson G. L. The fluid mosaic model of the structure of cell membranes. Science. 1972 Feb 18;175(4023):720–731. doi: 10.1126/science.175.4023.720. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wolpert L. Positional information and the spatial pattern of cellular differentiation. J Theor Biol. 1969 Oct;25(1):1–47. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5193(69)80016-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES