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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Aug 3.
Published in final edited form as: J Mol Biol. 2018 Apr 5;430(16):2293–2308. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2018.03.024

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Intrinsically disordered proteins generate entropic pressure and are efficient drivers of membrane bending and fission. (A) Axonal neurofilaments are an important cellular example of entropic pressure generated by IDP domains. Neurofilament IDPs radiate outward along filaments, creating zones of exclusion which repel neighboring filaments and control filament spacing. Neurofilament IDP domains thereby determine the overall diameter of the axon. Electron micrograph from Hirokawa et al, Journal of Cell Biology 1984 [96]. (B) IDP domains crowd membrane surfaces more efficiently than well-folded proteins of equal molecular weight. IDP domains therefore require fewer protein copies to drive membrane bending and fission through a crowding mechanism, in comparison to well-folded domains of equal molecular weight.