Curvature-induced membrane-structural changes

Fig. 2 Schematic representation of potential changes in integral membrane protein structure that could be imposed by a micellar environment (left hand side of each panel), compared to the native structure in bilayers (right). Possible distortions include (a) micelle-induced curvature in the TM helix or amphipathic helix (b) monomeric detergent molecules bound to a solvent-exposed region, in this case an aqueous cavity close to the micelle surface (c) altered relative orientations of amphipathic vs TM helices (d) loss of tilt relative to other TM segments. In this scenario hydrophobic mismatch between the TM helix and micelle are minimized by distortions in micelle structure that allow hydrophobic protein surfaces to remain in the hydrophobic phase. In the bilayer environment hydrophobic mismatch induces tilt, favoring a non-zero inter-helical crossing angles...

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