Chou et. al. [47] demonstrated that when the proteins have non-circular cross-section or if membrane has negative Gaussian curvature, then the membrane mediated interactions between two proteins is attractive. However, for circular (symmetric) protein, the interaction between two identical protein is repulsive and goes as 1/r^4. A weak attraction can arise if the membrane thermal undulations are accounted for. However. the authors report in Fig. 2, that interaction energetics of two identical symmetric inclusions is attractive. Is their this result consistent with any other previous study ?
