Pearling instabilities of membrane tubes with anchored polymers

We have studied the pearling instability induced on hollow tubular lipid ve sicles by hydrophilic polymers with hydrophobic side groups along the backb one. The results show that the polymer concentration is coupled to local me mbrane curvature. The relaxation of a pearled tube is characterized by two different well-separated time scales, indicating two physical mechanisms. W e present a model, which explains the observed phenomena and predicts polym er segregation according to local membrane curvature at late stages.