Aim of this project is to get a better understanding of the physical mechanisms of protein/protein and protein/lipid interactions im lipid membranes using multiscale simulations. The project is part of the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 625) in Mainz: "From Single Molecules to Nanoscopically Structured Materials". We want to study the aggregation of membrane proteins, in particular the light harvesting complex of green plants (LHC2b) - a trimeric protein that aggregates into larger scale structures, thus forming the light harvesting apparatus in the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts. The LHC2b complex opens up questions on a wide range of levels of resolution: (i) the interaction of the chlorophyll pigments with the protein and of the protein with the lipid membrane, (ii) formation of the trimers, and (iii) the (membrane-mediated and direct) protein/protein attraction leading to the formation of nanostructures. We aim at a hierarchichal simulation approach where we connect high resolution models acting on the atomistic level with various levels of coarse grained models.
The project is a joint project with the group of Prof. Harald Paulsen at Mainz University.