Discontinuous Wrapping Transition of Nanoparticle by Tensionless Lipid Membranes

Abstract

Using molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained implicit-solvent model, we studied the wrapping of spherical nanoparticles, with diameters ranging between 10 and 40 nm, by tensionless lipid membranes. We found that, for small nanoparticles, the amount of wrapping increases continuously with increasing adhesion strength, in agreement with earlier studies. However, for larger nanoparticles, the degree of wrapping exhibits an abrupt transition from weakly wrapped states to highly wrapped states. The discontinuity in the degree of wrapping increases with increasing adhesion strength. These results therefore asymptotically approach the mean field predictions, based on the Helfrich free energy, that large spherical nanoparticles are either unbound or completely wrapped.