Figure 3.

Three schematic drawings of lipid bilayers and a mixed protein–lipid micelle. (a) Hypothetical DHPC bilayer with indication of the thickness of the lipophilic phase. (b) Model of a mixed micelle of DHPC and OmpX, inspired by the data in this paper. The protein is represented as a rectangle, with its hydrophobic surface region depicted in gray. (c) Lipid bilayer in the outer membrane of E. coli (37); there is a close match between the thickness of the lipophilic phase of this bilayer and the height of the hydrophobic surface in OmpX (Fig. 2b).