Analysis of the irregular planar distribution of proteins in membranes

Methods to characterize the irregular but non-random planar distribution of proteins in biological membranes were investigated. The distribution of the proteins constituting the intramembranous particles (IMP) in human erythrocyte membranes was used as an example. The distribution of IMPs was deliberately altered by experimental means. For real space analyses, the IMP positions in freeze fracture micrograph S were determined by an automatic procedure described. Radial distribution and autocorrelation analysis revealed quantitative differences between experimental groups. These methods are more sensitive than the corresponding optical diffraction or Fourier-Bessel analyses of the same IMP distribution data, due to the inability of the diffraction methods to separate contrast and distribution effects. A method to identify IMPs on a non-uniform background is described.