  The behavior of disease-linked mutations of membrane proteins is especially
simple in rhodopsin, where they are well-studied, as they are responsible for
retinitis pigmentosa, RP (retinal degeneration). Here we show that the
frequency of occurrence of single RP mutations is strongly influenced by their
posttranslational survival rates, and that this survival correlates well (82%)
with a long-range, non-local hydropathic measure of the roughness of the water
interfaces of ex-membrane rhodopsin based on self-organized criticality (SOC).
It is speculated that this concept may be generally useful in studying survival
rates of many mutated proteins.
