#20 · Structural bio & protein design

Proteins and condensates strain lipid bilayers and transmit coupling across membranes

The dominant thread is how proteins and condensates mechanically perturb lipid bilayers. A preprint combining all-atom MD, multiscale SAXS and Bayesian inference quantifies OmpLA-induced membrane strain and protein/lipid ratio in proteoliposomes. A coarse-grained MD study reports that enhanced lipid interdigitation beneath protein condensates mediates transbilayer coupling. A reaction-diffusion model distinguishes three client-exchange regimes governing FRAP recovery in scaffold-driven condensates. Methodologically, a published SuAVE implementation computes membrane area compressibility by direct surface-area integration, avoiding Fourier wavevector cutoffs. A proteome-scale study quantifies interactions driving IDP condensate formation, extending the thread toward condensate assembly. The new elements are interdigitation as a transbilayer coupling mechanism and combined MD-SAXS-Bayesian strain quantification. The exchange and proteome papers address condensate kinetics and formation rather than membrane mechanics directly.