Figure 1.

Upper estimate of the g₀ obtained by calculating the potential of mean force during the extraction of a single lipid (series 1a, 1b) and a group of two (series 2) and three (series 3) adjacent lipids: (a) Obtained PMF profiles for series 1–3, the right-hand end points of the curves correspond to the values of $\frac{1}{N}{g}_N$ (N = 1, …, 3). (b) Four characteristic configurations of a periodic fragment of lipid membrane during the extraction of a group of three lipids (simulation series 3). Different lipids in the extracted group are represented by green, purple, and pink colors; atoms of lipids remaining in the bilayer: C—cyan, O—red, N—blue, P—brown, and H—white, water is not shown.