Monte Carlo simulations of complex formation between a mixed fluid vesicle and a charged colloid

Monte Carlo simulations are employed to investigate the ability of a charged fluidlike vesicle to adhere to and encapsulate an oppositely charged spherical colloidal particle. The vesicle contains mobile charges that interact with the colloid and among themselves through a screened electrostatic potential. Both migration of charges on the vesicle surface and elastic deformations of the vesicle contribute to the optimization of the vesicle-colloid interaction. Our Monte Carlo simulations reveal a discontinuous wrapping transition of the colloid as a function of the number of charges on the vesicle. Upon reducing the bending stiffness of the vesicle, the transition terminates in a critical point. At large electrostatic screening length we find a reentrant wrapping-unwrapping behavior upon increasing the total number of charges on the vesicle. We present a simple phenomenological model that qualitatively captures some features of the wrapping transition. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3191782]