Biological Membranes and Membrane Proteins

We focus specifically on biological membranes and membrane proteins here because the physical interactions involved in maintaining their structure are relatively simple. Biological membranes consist of a lipid bilayer in which membrane proteins are embedded. In other words, only amino acid sequences that are physically compatible with the environment of the lipid bilayer can become membrane proteins. Thus, if we first understand the interactions that form the lipid bilayer, we can learn why membrane proteins are embedded in the membrane. Then, to understand the conformational formation of membrane proteins, we need to know about transmembrane helix-helix interactions. An understanding of membrane proteins must lead to an understanding of proteins as a whole. Since many membrane proteins are functionally very important, we decided to focus specifically on membrane proteins.