Self-organization of the fluid mosaic of charged channel proteins in membranes.

Electrically charged ion channels in a fluid membrane may form dissipative structures driven by a concentration gradient of salt. On a molecular level the effect is due to dissipative attractive forces; the channel currents induce local gradients of the membrane potential that interact with the protein charge. Self-organization by "charged channel condensation" is treated on a phenomenological level: Smoluchowski's equation describing diffusion and drift of the membrane proteins and Kelvin's equation describing the dynamics of the membrane potential are considered as a coupled system of equations. The patterns of the two morphogens, the membrane protein and the membrane potential, are controlled by global parameters--the average density of charged channels, the level of their reversal potential, and the size of the membrane.