{"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Cells are defined by lipid membranes that differ in their structure across the tree of life. While the membranes of most bacteria and eukaryotes consist of single-headed bilayer lipids, the membranes of archaea are composed of mixtures of single-headed bilayer lipids and double-headed bolalipids. Archaeal bolalipids can adopt straight or u-shaped conformations, enabling them—together with bilayer lipids—to control whether membranes form bilayer or monolayer structures. Yet, the physical principles governing archaeal membranes remain largely unexplored, especially how membrane structure couples to externally imposed curvature during membrane remodeling. Here, we perform coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of toroidal vesicles to systematically probe the effects of all relevant combinations of mean and Gaussian curvatures on shape stability and lipid organization. We find that soft bilayer membranes can sustain all curvatures induced, whereas rigid bolalipid monolayer membranes either transition to different vesicle shapes or rupture. Bilayer-mimicking u-shaped bolalipids and bilayer lipids are spatially accumulated in regions of high mean membrane curvature independent of Gaussian curvature. Our work identifies curvature–composition coupling as a physical signature of archaeal membrane remodeling."}],"file":[{"file_size":8764791,"date_created":"2026-05-05T12:35:24Z","relation":"main_file","success":1,"file_id":"21801","date_updated":"2026-05-05T12:35:24Z","content_type":"application/pdf","access_level":"open_access","creator":"dernst","checksum":"2e10c4f4531676e0771ef3730e4b63a9","file_name":"2026_JourChemPhysics_Frey.pdf"}],"intvolume":"       164","article_type":"original","month":"04","has_accepted_license":"1","scopus_import":"1","article_number":"144902","title":"Cracking donuts and sorting lipids: Geometry controls archaeal membrane stability and lipid organization","_id":"21748","department":[{"_id":"AnSa"}],"date_updated":"2026-05-05T12:40:41Z","volume":164,"oa":1,"OA_type":"hybrid","project":[{"call_identifier":"H2020","grant_number":"802960","name":"Non-Equilibrium Protein Assembly: from Building Blocks to Biological Machines","_id":"eba2549b-77a9-11ec-83b8-a81e493eae4e"}],"oa_version":"Published Version","acknowledgement":"F.F. acknowledges the financial support from the NOMIS foundation. M.A. and A.Š. acknowledge the funding from the Volkswagen Foundation (Grant No. Az 96727). A.Š. acknowledges the funding from ERC Starting Grant “NEPA” (Grant No. 802960) and the Vallee Scholarship.","arxiv":1,"external_id":{"arxiv":["2603.15170"]},"quality_controlled":"1","publisher":"AIP Publishing","file_date_updated":"2026-05-05T12:35:24Z","tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","image":"/images/cc_by.png","short":"CC BY (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)"},"year":"2026","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","issue":"14","date_published":"2026-04-14T00:00:00Z","day":"14","author":[{"orcid":"0000-0001-8501-6017","id":"a0270b37-8f1a-11ec-95c7-8e710c59a4f3","last_name":"Frey","full_name":"Frey, Felix F","first_name":"Felix F"},{"first_name":"Miguel","full_name":"Santana de Freitas Amaral, Miguel","last_name":"Santana de Freitas Amaral","id":"4f2d02dd-47a9-11ec-ad10-82820ed3f501"},{"first_name":"Anđela","full_name":"Šarić, Anđela","orcid":"0000-0002-7854-2139","id":"bf63d406-f056-11eb-b41d-f263a6566d8b","last_name":"Šarić"}],"date_created":"2026-04-19T22:07:45Z","corr_author":"1","related_material":{"record":[{"id":"21800","relation":"research_data","status":"public"}]},"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1089-7690"],"issn":[" 0021-9606"]},"ddc":["540"],"PlanS_conform":"1","OA_place":"publisher","publication_status":"published","ec_funded":1,"publication":"Journal of Chemical Physics","type":"journal_article","doi":"10.1063/5.0325170","status":"public","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"citation":{"mla":"Frey, Felix F., et al. “Cracking Donuts and Sorting Lipids: Geometry Controls Archaeal Membrane Stability and Lipid Organization.” <i>Journal of Chemical Physics</i>, vol. 164, no. 14, 144902, AIP Publishing, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0325170\">10.1063/5.0325170</a>.","ista":"Frey FF, Santana de Freitas Amaral M, Šarić A. 2026. Cracking donuts and sorting lipids: Geometry controls archaeal membrane stability and lipid organization. Journal of Chemical Physics. 164(14), 144902.","ama":"Frey FF, Santana de Freitas Amaral M, Šarić A. Cracking donuts and sorting lipids: Geometry controls archaeal membrane stability and lipid organization. <i>Journal of Chemical Physics</i>. 2026;164(14). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0325170\">10.1063/5.0325170</a>","chicago":"Frey, Felix F, Miguel Santana de Freitas Amaral, and Anđela Šarić. “Cracking Donuts and Sorting Lipids: Geometry Controls Archaeal Membrane Stability and Lipid Organization.” <i>Journal of Chemical Physics</i>. AIP Publishing, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0325170\">https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0325170</a>.","short":"F.F. Frey, M. Santana de Freitas Amaral, A. Šarić, Journal of Chemical Physics 164 (2026).","apa":"Frey, F. F., Santana de Freitas Amaral, M., &#38; Šarić, A. (2026). Cracking donuts and sorting lipids: Geometry controls archaeal membrane stability and lipid organization. <i>Journal of Chemical Physics</i>. AIP Publishing. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0325170\">https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0325170</a>","ieee":"F. F. Frey, M. Santana de Freitas Amaral, and A. Šarić, “Cracking donuts and sorting lipids: Geometry controls archaeal membrane stability and lipid organization,” <i>Journal of Chemical Physics</i>, vol. 164, no. 14. AIP Publishing, 2026."},"article_processing_charge":"Yes (in subscription journal)"}