Membrane-mediated interactions between deformable nanoparticles on membranes

Adsorption of nanoparticles onto a membrane can cause membrane deformations that give rise to effective interactions between the particles. Previous studies have focused on rigid nanoparticles with well-defined shapes, but DNA origami technology has enabled the creation of deformable nanostructures with precisely controllable shapes and mechanical properties. Here we use computer simulations to investigate the interactions between deformable, hinge-like nanostructures and lipid membranes. We employ coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to characterize the mutual deformations of cholesterol-tagged particles anchored to a membrane as a function of the hinge stiffness. We then determine the effective membrane-mediated interactions between two hinges adsorbed onto a bilayer using umbrella sampling methods. The resulting potentials of mean force show that sufficiently stiff hinges experience an attractive force that can lead to membrane mediated self-assembly. Our results suggest new avenues to modulate interactions between membrane-associated nanoparticles and to sculpt biological membranes using deformable particles with controlled mechanical properties.