Figure 5.

Membrane occlusion and intramembrane dipole potentials. (A) In the non-occluded state, the membrane is in a state of thinner (compared to B) hydrophobic thickness leading to a structural changes in the membrane protein. This in turn produces a low lipid packing density and thus low membrane potential. Panel (B) illustrates the opposite, where the occluded state leads to high packing density and thus high membrane potential. The increased hydrophobic thickness resulting from the occluded state causes these changes. Diagram adapted from Mares et al. (2014).