A Coarse Grained Model for a Lipid Membrane with Physiological Composition and Leaflet Asymmetry
Fig 3
Structural characteristics of the cholesterol free membranes.
(A) Potential energy profile over the simulation length for the asymmetric bilayer. (B) Box dimension, along x-axis, over time for asymmetric membrane (black) and symmetric membranes (see text) (IV-green, CP-red). (C) Partial density profiles of water (black) and various lipid moieties (HG—head group in red, PO4 in green, GL—glycerol backbone in blue, hydrophobic lipid tails in pink and terminal tail bead in brown) of the asymmetric bilayer along its normal (z-axis). The bilayer center is located at 0 nm. (D) Second-rank lipid order parameter for consecutive bonds of various lipids with respect to the bilayer normal. Data is plotted for all bonds involving headgroup (HG), phosphate (PO4), glycerol moieties (GL1, GL2) and the palmitoyl tail of the lipids for the asymmetric (upper panel) and IV symmetric (lower panel) bilayers.