Fig. 7.

Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of monomeric (1-mer), tetrameric (4-mer), and nonameric (9-mer) TatA structures in an E. coli lipid membrane. (Top) Backbone traces of TatA. The protein is displayed as a cartoon colored cyan, with the phosphate particles of the lipid headgroups shown as red spheres. Gln8 (blue) and Phe39 (yellow) residues are shown in stick representation. (Middle) Protein displayed as a surface with backbone particles colored pink and side-chains yellow. Lipid headgroup particles are shown in red and the rest of the lipid is shown in gray. Water and ions are omitted for clarity. (Bottom) Water particles shown in green. Lipids and ions are omitted for clarity. In the representations, one and four subunits have been removed from the 4- and 9-mer oligomers, respectively, to reveal the central pore.