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  • Open Access

Membrane bending energy selects for symmetric growth of protein assemblies

Yue Moon Ying and Margaret E. Johnson*

  • T.C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

  • *Contact author: margaret.johnson@jhu.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043025 – Published 8 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tnv7-fjh5

Abstract

Membrane remodeling into vesicles is essential for processes such as receptor transport and viral budding. In many cases, this remodeling is driven by the assembly of multivalent protein lattices that stochastically grow while coupled to bending the membrane. Here, we ask how membrane mechanics can bias the structural pathways sampled during lattice growth. Using a continuum membrane model coupled to growing human immunodeficiency virus Gag lattice intermediates, we show that radially symmetric lattice growth is energetically favored over eccentric growth because it induces membrane bending at lower cost per protein. For rigid lattices, the penalty for asymmetric growth is controlled primarily by the shape of the lattice perimeter rather than by the density of protein-membrane links, with all membrane deformations retaining strong radial symmetry. Reevaluating the energy relative to the circumscribing radius of the lattice thus collapses all growth pathways to a similar curve. When the lattice is flexible, asymmetric growth introduces another cost, as these intermediates also generate weaker curvature. Analytical spherical-cap estimates support the trends in our numerical energy minimization calculations, and our results remain robust across a range of tested modeling assumptions including membrane spontaneous curvature. Although kinetic barriers along growth pathways are not assessed, our results show that membrane bending can strongly select for symmetric assembly pathways, providing a mechanical bias against irregular lattice growth during membrane remodeling.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043025– Published 8 October, 2026
  • Received 13 August 2025
  • Accepted 29 August 2026
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