Intermembrane crosstalk drives inner-membrane protein organization in Escherichia coli.

Gram-negative bacteria depend on energised protein complexes that connect the two membranes of the cell envelope. However, β-barrel outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) and α-helical inner-membrane proteins (IMPs) display quite different organisation. OMPs cluster into islands that restrict their lateral mobility, while IMPs generally diffuse throughout the cell.