Mechanisms underlying anomalous diffusion in the plasma membrane

Abstract

The plasma membrane is a complex fluid where lipids and proteins undergo diffusive motion critical to biochemical reactions. Through quantitative imaging analyses such as single-particle tracking, it is observed that diffusion in the cell membrane is usually anomalous in the sense that the mean squared displacement is not linear with time. This chapter describes the different models that are employed to describe anomalous diffusion, paying special attention to the experimental evidence that supports these models in the plasma membrane. We review models based on anticorrelated displacements, such as fractional Brownian motion and obstructed diffusion, and nonstationary models such as continuous time random walks. We also emphasize evidence for the formation of distinct compartments that transiently form on the cell surface. Finally, we overview heterogeneous diffusion processes in the plasma membrane, which have recently attracted considerable interest.

Keywords: Cell membrane; Continuous time random walk; Fractional Brownian motion; MSD; Single-particle tracking; Subdiffusion.