Potentials of mean force for four orientational configurations of the NanC proteins.

<p>The four combinations are for angles of: ; ; ; and (in <i>A</i>, <i>B</i>, <i>C</i>, and <i>D</i>, respectively). The PMFs have depths of (<i>A</i>); (<i>B</i>); (<i>C</i>); and (<i>D</i>). In <i>B</i>, the minimum, labelled , and the two local minima, labelled and , correspond to inter-protein separations at which different numbers of lipids can optimally occupy the intervening region between the two proteins, as explained in the main text and illustrated in <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003417#pcbi-1003417-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3</a>.