Interbilayer Forces in Membrane Fusion - Interbilayer Interactions During Membrane Fusion

Interbilayer Interactions During Membrane Fusion

When two lipid bilayers approach each other, they experience weak van der Waals attractive forces and much stronger repulsive forces due to hydration repulsion. These forces are normally dominant over the hydrophobic attractive forces between the membranes. Studies done on membrane bilayers using Surface forces apparatus (SFA) indicate that membrane fusion can instantaneously occur when two bilayers are still at a finite distance from each other without them having to overcome the short-range repulsive force barrier. This is attributed to the molecular rearrangements that occur resulting in the bypassing of these forces by the membranes. During fusion, the hydrophobic tails of a small patch of lipids on the cell membrane are exposed to the aqueous phase surrounding them. This results in very strong hydrophobic attractions (which dominate the repulsive force) between the exposed groups leading to membrane fusion. The attractive van der Waals forces play a negligible role in membrane fusion. Thus, fusion is a result of the hydrophobic attractions between internal hydrocarbon chain groups that are exposed to the normally inaccessible aqueous environment. Fusion is observed to start at points on the membranes where the membrane stresses are either the weakest or the strongest.