  Using computer simulations we show that lipid membranes can mediate linear
aggregation of spherical nanoparticles binding to it for a wide range of
biologically relevant bending rigidities. This result is in net contrast with
the isotropic aggregation of nanoparticles on fluid interfaces or the expected
clustering of isotropic insertions in biological membranes. We present a phase
diagram indicating where linear aggregation is expected, and compute explicitly
the free energy barriers associated with linear and isotropic aggregation.
Finally, we provide simple scaling arguments to explain this phenomenology.
