  Some of the key proteins essential for important cellular processes are
capable of recruiting other proteins from the cytosol to phospholipid
membranes. The physical basis for this cooperativity of binding is,
surprisingly, still unclear. Here, we suggest a general feedback mechanism that
explains cooperativity through mechanochemical coupling mediated by the
mechanical properties of phospholipid membranes. Our theory predicts that
protein recruitment, and therefore also protein pattern formation, involves
membrane deformation, and is strongly affected by membrane composition.
