Protease accessibility of bilayer-embedded TMs. TMs are
colored as in Fig. 1.
A, GLUT1 TM protease accessibility (ordinate) arranged by TM
number (abscissa) and group classification (above the
bars). Accessibility is the ratio of experimentally observed to
potential cleavage sites (trypsin and α-chymotrypsin). B, GLUT1
TM protease accessibility in membranes (ordinate, see A)
versus GLUT1 TM protease accessibility following SDS-PAGE elution
(abscissa). Lines were calculated by linear regression. The
solid line is drawn through TMs 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 11. The
dashed line is drawn though TMs 3, 6, 9, 10, and 12. C,
observed TM protease accessibility (ordinate) versus TM
relative hydrophobicity (abscissa; calculated as sequence-specific
retention score (42)). The
S-shaped curve was obtained by nonlinear regression assuming protease
accessibility (P) is related to TM hydrophobicity (H)
through the logistic function P = a/(1 + m ×
n-H) where a, m, and
n are 58.7 ± 15, (3.13 ± 0.14) × 10-6,
and 0.82 ± 0.09, respectively. The inflection point (arrow)
occurs at 62.5% relative hydrophobicity. TMs are numbered.