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Influence of Hydrophobic Mismatching on Membrane Protein Diffusion

Cellular Biophysics Group (BIOMS), German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

Correspondence: Address reprint requests and inquiries to Matthias Weiss, E-mail: m.weiss{at}dkfz.de.

The observation of membrane domains in vivo and in vitro has triggered a renewed interest in the size-dependent diffusion of membrane inclusions (e.g., clusters of transmembrane proteins and lipid rafts). Here, we have used coarse-grained membrane simulations to quantify the influence of a hydrophobic mismatch between the inclusion's transmembrane portion and the surrounding lipid bilayer on the diffusive mobility of the inclusion. Our data indicate only slight changes in the mobility (<30%) when altering the hydrophobic mismatch, and the scaling of the diffusion coefficient D is most consistent with previous hydrodynamic predictions, i.e., with the Saffman-Delbruck relation and the edgewise motion of a thin disk in the limit of small and large radii, respectively.