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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Determination of Plasma Membrane Partitioning for Peripherally-associated Proteins
Published on: June 15, 2018
Analysis of membrane binding equilibria of peripheral proteins: allowance for excluded area of bound protein
1Section on Physical Biochemistry, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. minton@helix.nih.gov
Abstract:
When peripheral proteins bind to phospholipid membranes lacking discrete binding sites, steric repulsion between bound protein molecules may result in a reduction of the surface area available to additional bound protein by an amount significantly greater than the actual area occupied by bound protein. An approximate treatment of this effect demonstrates that neglect of area exclusion by bound protein may lead to significant errors in the evaluation of equilibrium association constants and the fractional coverage of membrane surface area.
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