Membrane Morphologies Induced by Arc-Shaped Scaffolds Are Determined by Arc Angle and Coverage

The intricate shapes of biological membranes such as tubules and membrane stacks are induced by proteins. In this article, we systematically investigate the membrane shapes induced by arc-shaped scaffolds such as proteins and protein complexes with coarse-grained modeling and simulations. We find that arc-shaped scaffolds induce membrane tubules at membrane coverages larger than a threshold of similar to 40%, irrespective of their arc angle. The membrane morphologies at intermediate coverages below this tubulation threshold, in contrast, strongly depend on the arc angle. Scaffolds with arc angles of about 60 degrees, akin to N-BAR domains, do not change the membrane shape at coverages below the tubulation threshold, whereas scaffolds with arc angles larger than about 120 degrees induce double-membrane stacks at intermediate coverages. The scaffolds stabilize the curved membrane edges that connect the membrane stacks, as suggested for complexes of reticulon proteins. Our results provide general insights on the determinants of membrane shaping by arc-shaped scaffolds.