Liquid crystalline order and its impact on shape evolution of fluid lipid membranes
Abstract
We consider extensions of the classical curvature-elasticity free energy for a fluid lipid membrane, explicitly treating the liquid crystal structure of the membrane, which results from the lipid molecules that are, on average, oriented normal to the surface. Locally varying liquid crystal order leads to local variations in bending rigidities and surface viscosity and thus influences the shape evolution. This provides a multiscale coupling between the local membrane mechanics on the level of the lipids and the mesoscopic length and time scales of biological functions. Numerical simulations in the one-constant approximation demonstrate the impact of local membrane mechanics on the emerging equilibrium shapes. These shapes not only depend on the specified conserved surface area and enclosed volume, as for the classical curvature-elasticity free energy, but also the elastic parameter and are characterized by a reduced liquid crystal order at highly curved regions. The modified shapes and their varying liquid crystal order, as function of curvature, provide experimentally testable properties. Exploring the dynamic evolution demonstrate a tight coupling of tangential flow, shape evolution and liquid crystalline order. We further point to model extensions towards lipid phase separation and asymmetric lipid bilayers and biological implications.
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BibTeX
@misc{nitschke2026liquid,
title = {{Liquid crystalline order and its impact on shape evolution of fluid lipid membranes}},
author = {Ingo Nitschke and Maik Porrmann and Axel Voigt},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.40113},
eprint = {2609.40113},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.40113},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Liquid crystalline order and its impact on shape evolution of fluid lipid membranes
AU - Ingo Nitschke
AU - Maik Porrmann
AU - Axel Voigt
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.40113
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.40113
AB - We consider extensions of the classical curvature-elasticity free energy for a fluid lipid membrane, explicitly treating the liquid crystal structure of the membrane, which results from the lipid molecules that are, on average, oriented normal to the surface. Locally varying liquid crystal order leads to local variations in bending rigidities and surface viscosity and thus influences the shape evolution. This provides a multiscale coupling between the local membrane mechanics on the level of the lipids and the mesoscopic length and time scales of biological functions. Numerical simulations in the one-constant approximation demonstrate the impact of local membrane mechanics on the emerging equilibrium shapes. These shapes not only depend on the specified conserved surface area and enclosed volume, as for the classical curvature-elasticity free energy, but also the elastic parameter and are characterized by a reduced liquid crystal order at highly curved regions. The modified shapes and their varying liquid crystal order, as function of curvature, provide experimentally testable properties. Exploring the dynamic evolution demonstrate a tight coupling of tangential flow, shape evolution and liquid crystalline order. We further point to model extensions towards lipid phase separation and asymmetric lipid bilayers and biological implications.
ER -