LIPID BILAYER STANDING WAVES IN CELL-MEMBRANES

Cubic lipid bilayer structures described as vibrating standing waves c entered on a nodal surface can explain various dynamic phenomena, like cubosome formation and vesicle budding-off. This description has been extended to the two-dimensional cell membrane. It is demonstrated how this standing wave conformation model of the cell membrane can provid e control of membrane transport processes in space and time. The signi ficance of lipid composition to give the appropriate elastic rigidity is discussed in relation to present knowledge of membrane lipid molecu lar shape.