Did you know there are more than bilayer #membranes in nature? Meet the #archaeal monolayer and its surprising mechanical properties! New #preprint! (1/7)

I sit across from @v_sorichetti . He charges brushes the right way. Maybe his preprint can recharge your scientific batteries and brush up your cg simulation skills. Find out?

Taken together, we find membrane tradeoff design principles evolved in extremophiles - stability vs reshapeability - that can be valuable for (bio)technological applications. (7/7) 🙏 @sciFelixFrey , @xiuyun_jiang , @BaumBuzz @SaricLab preprint →

Modelling real word-like archaeal membranes by mixing bolalipids with a small fraction of bilayer lipids, we get membranes that are easy to bend and are stable at high T. (6/7)

When bolalipids are flexible enough to adopt the U-shaped conformation, the membrane can reshape. (5/7)

However, these rigid bolalipids make membranes fluctuate less and are harder to bend. (4/7)

Like archaea that thrive in extreme environments, we find that membranes made of bolalipids achieve fludity at higher temperature 🔥 than bilayer membranes. (3/7)

Monolayers are made of bolalipids — two heads connected by a single tail that can exist in two conformations. Inspired by bolalipids in living archaea, we tune the lipid molecule stiffness in coarse-grained simulations. (2/7)

@PhysicsofLifeUK Feeling very inspired by this young bio-physics community, and what a nice setting in lovely Edinburgh (excellent weather was a great idea too, thanks organisers!) @vainhilla96 @miggral

Discussing physics over tapas at @PhysicsofLifeUK Summer School in Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 with @BillieMeadowcr1 @lucabrb_ @luke_phys @vainhilla96 !