Geometric pinning and antimixing in scaffolded lipid vesicles

Previous studies on the phase behaviour of multicomponent lipid bilayers found an intricate interplay between membrane geometry and its composition, but a fundamental understanding of curvature-induced effects remains elusive. Thanks to a combination of experiments on lipid vesicles supported by colloidal scaffolds and theoretical work, we demonstrate that the local geometry and global chemical composition of the bilayer determine both the spatial arrangement and the amount of mixing of the lipids. In the mixed phase, a strong geometrical anisotropy can give rise to an antimixed state, where the lipids are mixed, but their relative concentration varies across the membrane. After phase separation, the bilayer organizes in multiple lipid domains, whose location is pinned in specific regions, depending on the substrate curvature and the bending rigidity of the lipid domains. Our results provide critical insights into the phase separation of cellular membranes and, more generally, two-dimensional fluids on curved substrates. Lipid bilayers feature an intricate interplay between membrane geometry and its chemical composition but lack of a model system with simultaneous control over membrane shape and composition prevented a fundamental understanding of curvature-induced effects. Here the authors demonstrate that the local substrate geometry and global chemical composition of the bilayer determine both the spatial arrangement and the sorting of lipid domains.