Conformation of a purified "spontaneously" inserting thylakoid membrane protein precursor in aqueous solvent and detergent micelles
Woolhead, Cheryl A., Mant, Alexandra, Kim, Soo Jung, Robinson, Colin and Rodger, Alison (2001) Conformation of a purified "spontaneously" inserting thylakoid membrane protein precursor in aqueous solvent and detergent micelles. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 276, (18), 14607-14613. (doi:10.1074/jbc.M009600200).
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Description/Abstract
Subunit W of photosystem II (PsbW) is a single-span thylakoid membrane protein that is synthesized with a cleavable hydrophobic signal peptide and integrated into the thylakoid membrane by an apparently spontaneous mechanism. In this study, we have analyzed the secondary structure of the pre-protein at early stages of the insertion pathway, using purified recombinant pre-PsbW. We show that the protein remains soluble in Tris buffer after removal of detergent. Under these conditions pre-PsbW contains no detectable alpha -helix, whereas substantial alpha -helical structure is present in SDS micelles. In aqueous buffer, the tryptophan fluorescence emission characteristics are intermediate between those of solvent-exposed and hydrophobic environments, suggesting the formation of a partially folded structure. If denaturants are excluded from the purification protocol, pre-PsbW purifies instead as a 180-kDa oligomer with substantial alpha -helical structure. Mature-size PsbW was prepared by removal of the presequence, and we show that this protein also contains alpha -helix in detergent but in lower quantities than the pre-protein. We therefore propose that pre-PsbW contains alpha -helical structure in both the mature protein and the signal peptide in nonpolar environments. We propose that pre-PsbW acquires its alpha -helical structure only during the later, membrane-bound stages of the insertion pathway, after which it forms a "helical hairpin"-type loop intermediate in the thylakoid membrane.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Related URLs: | |
| Subjects: | Q Science > Q Science (General) R Medicine > R Medicine (General) |
| Divisions: | University Structure - Pre August 2011 > School of Medicine > Cancer Sciences |
| Item ID: | 26669 |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Apr 2006 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Jun 2011 08:51 |
| Contributors: | Woolhead, Cheryl A. (Author) Mant, Alexandra (Author) Kim, Soo Jung (Author) Robinson, Colin (Author) Rodger, Alison (Author) |
| Date: | 2001 |
| Status: | Published |
| Contact Email Address: | Crobinson@bio.warwick.ac.uk |
| URI: | http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/26669 |
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