Mutual diffusion of interacting membrane proteins

The generalized Stokes-Einstein equation is used, together with the two-dimensional pressure equation, to analyze mutual diffusion in concentrated membrane systems. These equations can be used to investigate the role that both direct and hydrodynamic interactions play in determining diffusive behavior. Here only direct interactions are explicitly incorporated into the theory at high densities; however, both direct and hydrodynamic interactions are analyzed for some dilute solutions. We look at diffusion in the presence of weak attractions, soft repulsions, and hard-core repulsions. It is found that, at low densities, attractions retard mutual diffusion while repulsions enhance it. Mechanistically, attractions tend to tether particles together and oppose the dissipation of gradients or fluctuations in concentration, while repulsions provide a driving force that pushes particles apart. At higher concentrations, changes in the structure of the fluid enhance mutual diffusion even in the presence of attractions. It is shown that the theoretical description of postelectrophoresis relaxation and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy experiments must be modified if interacting systems are studied. The effects of interactions on mutual diffusion coefficients have probably already been seen in postelectrophoresis relaxation experiments.