Shows that transmembrane domains enhance membrane fusogenicity by inducing disorder in lipid tails, suggesting a new mechanism for fusion proteins.
(n = 6, …, 26), we find that negative hydrophobic mismatch between the TMD and the membrane core strongly promotes fusion. Analysis of the lipid tail order parameters of annular lipids revealed a strong correlation between stalk stabilization and induced lipid disorder. Together, our findings suggest that TMDs actively contribute to membrane fusogenicity by locally perturbing the membrane order.
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Scherer et al. (2026) studied this question.
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