Figure 5
The continuum-level characterisation of how the mechanical interaction between two interacting groups evolves with the application of external mechanical stimuli. (a) schematically describes the general trends of the evolution of the surface-averaged interaction stress (from the surrounding lipid molecules on the embedded inclusions) against the applied membrane strain, through which the membrane rupture signatures (rupture strain and stress) can be identified. The groups designated as the flexible/rigid inclusions and the associated surrounding lipids are listed for the chosen cellular membrane complexes. (b) and (c) reveal the membrane rupture strains and the corresponding surface-averaged interaction stresses, respectively, for the biomolecular systems undergoing uniaxial membrane stretch at a broad range of loading rates (~106–1010 s −1). The blue colour denotes the rupture characteristics involving groups PM1 and PM2 of the pure lipid bilayer membrane. Similarly, the green, red and orange colours represent the stretch-induced membrane complex rupture features for the integrin-membrane complex, the lipid bilayer embedded with rigid lipid inclusions and the lipid bilayer embedded with rigid integrin inclusion, respectively.
