1.
Eur Phys J E Soft Matter
; 26(3): 295-300, 2008 Jul.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18500443
ABSTRACT
Starting from a high surface free-energy state, lipid nanotube networks are capable to self-organize into tree-like structures with particular geometrical features. In this work we analyze the process of self-organization in such networks, and report a strong similarity to the Euclidian Steiner Tree Problem (ESTP). ESTP is a well-known NP-hard optimization problem of finding a network connecting a given set of terminal points on a plane, allowing addition of auxiliary points, with the overall objective to minimize the total network length. The present study shows that aggregate lipid structures self-organize into geometries that correspond to locally optimal solutions to such problems.