INTERACTION OF CONICAL MEMBRANE INCLUSIONS - EFFECT OF LATERAL TENSION

Considering two rigid conical inclusions embedded in a membrane subjec t to lateral tension, we study the membrane-mediated interaction betwe en these inclusions that originates from the hat-shaped membrane defor mations associated with the cones. At nonvanishing lateral tensions, t he interaction is found to depend on the orientation of the cones with respect to the membrane plane. The interaction of inclusions of equal orientation is repulsive at all distances between them, while the inc lusions of opposite orientation repel each other at small separations, but attract each other at larger ones. Both the repulsive and attract ive forces become stranger with increasing lateral tension. This is di fferent from what has been predicted on the basis of the same static m odel for the case of vanishing lateral tension. Without tension, the i nclusions repel each other at all distances independently of their rel ative orientation. We conclude that lateral tension may induce the agg regation of conical membrane inclusions.