Statistical Mechanics of Membrane Protein Conformation: A Homopolymer Model

Abstract

The conformation and the phase diagram of a membrane protein are investigated via grand canonical ensemble approach using a homopolymer model. We discuss the nature and pathway of $α$-helix integration into the membrane that results depending upon membrane permeability and polymer adsorptivity. For a membrane with the permeability larger than a critical value, the integration becomes the second order transition that occurs at the same temperature as that of the adsorption transition. For a nonadsorbing membrane, the integration is of the first order due to the aggregation of $α$-helices.