{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T12:44:51Z","timestamp":1782909891439,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"AIP Publishing","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Lipid exchange between populations of non-fusing protocells, mediated by monomer diffusion through the aqueous phase, is a key process underlying protocell growth and compositional equilibration. While most theoretical descriptions consider single-component membranes with constant desorption rates, the influence of vesicle size and lipid composition on lipid-transfer dynamics remains poorly understood. Here, we develop a kinetic model for lipid exchange in multicomponent protocell populations that incorporates lipid species with different desorption rates and composition-dependent membrane packing effects. We show that lipid composition heterogeneity introduces multiple equilibration timescales and can generate non-monotonic dynamics, including transient overshoots of intermediate lipid species. Vesicle-size asymmetry controls the direction and rate of lipid transfer, determining the donor or acceptor character of individual vesicle populations. Membrane compression further modifies lipid-transfer kinetics and vesicle-area evolution. These results demonstrate how vesicle size, lipid composition, and membrane packing jointly govern lipid-transfer dynamics in heterogeneous protocell populations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0337524","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T11:52:19Z","timestamp":1782906739000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Vesicle size and membrane composition control monomer transfer pathways in multicomponent lipid vesicles"],"prefix":"10.1063","volume":"165","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2845-0973","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patrick","family":"Grosfils","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Department of Physics, Universit\u00e9 Libre de Bruxelles 1 , Boulevard du Triomphe CP231, 1050 Brussels,","place":["Belgium"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-6492-9796","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patricia","family":"Losada-P\u00e9rez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental Soft Matter and Thermal Physics (EST) Group, Department of Physics, Universit\u00e9 Libre de Bruxelles 2 , Boulevard du Triomphe CP223, 1050 Brussels,","place":["Belgium"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"317","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026070107091828500_c1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"116141","DOI":"10.1016\/j.molliq.2021.116141","volume":"334","year":"2021","journal-title":"J.\u00a0Mol. 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