Search results for "XWALP peptide family"

Hydrophobic mismatch of mobile transmembrane helices: Merging theory and experiments

2012

Abstract Hydrophobic mismatch still represents a puzzle for transmembrane peptides, despite the apparent simplicity of this concept and its demonstrated validity in natural membranes. Using a wealth of available experimental 2 H NMR data, we provide here a comprehensive explanation of the orientation and dynamics of model peptides in lipid bilayers, which shows how they can adapt to membranes of different thickness. The orientational adjustment of transmembrane α-helices can be understood as the result of a competition between the thermodynamically unfavorable lipid repacking associated with peptide tilting and the optimization of peptide/membrane hydrophobic coupling. In the positive misma…