Correlated Diffusion of Membrane Proteins and Their Effect on Membrane Viscosity

Abstract

We extend the Saffman theory of membrane hydrodynamics to account for the correlated motion of membrane proteins, along with the effect of protein concentration on that correlation and on the response of the membrane to stresses. Expressions for the coupling diffusion coefficients of protein pairs and their concentration dependence are derived in the limit of small protein size relative to the interprotein separation. The additional role of membrane viscosity as determining the characteristic length scale for membrane response leads to unusual concentration effects at large separation—the transverse coupling increases with protein concentration, whereas the longitudinal one becomes concentration-independent