Primary lipid vesicle fusion events: Pathways, forces, energetics (B02)

• Subject Area: Biophysics
• Term: from 2009 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 55908123

Fusion of lipid vesicles and membranes is a fundamental intra- and intercellular transport mechanism, mediated, controlled, and triggered by a complex machinery of fusion proteins. By atomistic simulations, we will calculate the free energy profiles along the fusion pathways determined during the past funding period, with a particular focus on the hemifusion and subsequent pore expansion steps. To structurally interpret the experimentally determined fusion kinetics, we will further use a generalized Helfrich model to disentangle which parts of the pore dictate the energetics and kinetics of the involved topological changes.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 803: Functionality Controlled by Organisation in and between Membranes
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Co-Applicant Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie; (Karl-Friedrich-Bonhoeffer-Institut) (aufgelöst)
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Helmut Grubmüller