Capturing spontaneous partitioning of peripheral proteins using a biphasic membrane-mimetic model.

ABSTRACT: Membrane binding of peripheral proteins, mediated by specialized anchoring domains, is a crucial step for their biological function. Computational studies of membrane insertion, however, have proven challenging and largely inaccessible, due to the time scales required for the complete description of the process, mainly caused by the slow diffusion of the lipid molecules composing the membrane. Furthermore, in many cases, the nature of the membrane "anchor", i.e., the part of the protein that inserts into the membrane, is also unknown. Here, we address some of these issues by developing and employing a simplified representation of the membrane by a biphasic solvent model which we demonstrate can be used efficiently to capture and describe the process of hydrophobic insertion of membrane anc

SUBMITTER: Arcario MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3102442 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature