SDS micelles as a membrane-mimetic environment for transmembrane segments

A systematic study results for the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-solubilized states of a series of model [alpha]-helical transmembrane (TM) segments of varying Ala and Ile content in conjunction with selected single-Asn polar substitutions are presented. The detergent micelles formed from SDS which exhibit ability to mimick the tertiary interactions of protein-, lipid-, and aqueous-exposed helical surfaces that arise in the folded TM domains of proteins could be used to gain insight into similar TM sequences in the in vivo assembly of polytopic membrane proteins.