Structural prediction of membrane-bound proteins.

A prediction algorithm based on physical characteristics of the twenty amino acids and refined by comparison to the proposed bacteriorhodopsin structure was devised to delineate likely membrane-buried regions in the primary sequences of proteins known to interact with the lipid bilayer. Application of the method to the sequence of the carboxyl terminal one-third of bovine rhodopsin predicted a membrane-buried helical hairpin structure. With the use of lipid-buried segments in bacteriorhodopsin as well as regions predicted by the algorithm in other membrane-bound proteins, a hierarchical ranking of the twenty amino acids in their preferences to be in lipid contact was calculated. A helical wheel analysis of the predicted regions suggests which helical faces are within the protein interior and which are in contact with the lipid bilayer.