| The EGF Receptor Transmembrane Domain: Peptide-Peptide Interactions in Fluid Bilayer Membranes Biophysical Journal, Volume 79, Issue 4, 1 October 2000, Pages 2024-2032 Michael R. Morrow and Chris W.M. Grant Abstract A peptide containing the transmembrane domain of the human EGF receptor was studied in fluid lipid bilayers for insight into receptor tyrosine kinase lateral associations in cell membranes. The peptide comprised the 23-amino acid hydrophobic segment thought to span the membrane (Ile to Met of the EGF receptor), plus the first 10 amino acids of the receptor's cytoplasmic domain (Arg to Thr). Probes for solid-state NMR spectroscopy were incorporated by deuteration of the methyl side chains of alanine at positions 623 and 637. H-NMR spectra were recorded from 25 to 65°C in membranes composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl phosphatidylcholine, with and without 33% cholesterol, and relaxation times were measured. Peptide concentration ranged from 0.5 to 10mol %. The peptide behaved as predominant monomers undergoing rapid symmetric rotational diffusion; however, there was evidence of reversible side-to-side interaction among the hydrophobic transmembrane domains, particularly at physiological temperatures and in the presence of natural concentrations of cholesterol. The results of these experiments in fluid membranes are consistent with the existence of lipid-protein interactions that would predispose to receptor microdomain formation in membranes of higher animal cells. Abstract | Full Text | PDF (200 kb) |
| Cholesterol Orientation and Dynamics in Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine Bilayers: A Solid State Deuterium NMR Analysis Biophysical Journal, Volume 76, Issue 1, 1 January 1999, Pages 351-359 M.P. Marsan, I. Muller, C. Ramos, F. Rodriguez, E.J. Dufourc, J. Czaplicki and A. Milon Abstract Proton decoupled deuterium NMR spectra of oriented bilayers made of DMPC and 30mol % deuterated cholesterol acquired at 76.8MHz (30°C) have provided a set of very accurate quadrupolar splitting for eight C-D bonds of cholesterol. Due to the new precision of the experimental data, the original analysis by Dufourc et al. (1984. 23:6062–6071) had to be reconsidered. We performed a systematic study of the influence on the precision and uniqueness of the data-fitting procedure of: (i) the coordinates derived from x-ray, neutron scattering, or force field-minimized structures, (ii) internal mobility, (iii) the axial symmetry hypothesis, and (iv) the knowledge of some quadrupolar splitting assignments. Good agreement between experiment and theory could be obtained only with the neutron scattering structure, for which both axial symmetry hypothesis and full order parameter matrix analysis gave satisfactory results. Finally, this work revealed an average orientation of cholesterol slightly different from those previously published and, most importantly, a molecular order parameter equal to 0.95±0.01, instead of 0.79±0.03 previously found for the same system at 30°C. Temperature dependence in the 20–50°C range shows a constant average orientation and a monotonous decrease of cholesterol S, with a slope of −0.0016K. A molecular order parameter of 0.89±0.01 at 30°C was determined for a DMPC/16mol % of cholesterol. Abstract | Full Text | PDF (132 kb) |
| Effect of librational motion on fluorescence depolarization and nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation in macromolecules and membranes Biophysical Journal, Volume 30, Issue 3, 1 June 1980, Pages 489-506 G. Lipari and A. Szabo Abstract The theory of fluorescent emission anisotropy [r(t)] of a cylindrical probe in a membrane suspension is developed. It is shown, independent of any model, that the limiting anisotropy [r(infinity)] is proportional to the square to the order parameter of the probe. The order parameter determines the first nontrivial term in the expansion of the equilibrium orientational distribution function of the probe in a series of Legendre polynomials. Following Kinosita, Kawato, and Ikegami, the motion of the probe is described as diffusion ("wobbling") within a cone of semiangle theta 0. Within the framework of this model, an accurate single-exponential approximation for r(t) is considered. An analytic expression relating the effective relaxation time, which appears in the above approximation, to theta 0 and the diffusion coefficient for wobbling is derived. The model is generalized to the situation where the probe is attached to a macromolecule whose motion cannot be neglected on the time scale of the fluorescence experiment. Finally, by exploiting the formal similarity between the theory of fluorescence depolarization and 13C-NMR dipolar relaxation, expressions for T1, T2, and the nuclear Overhauser enhancement are derived for a protonated carbon which is nonrigidly attached to a macromolecule and undergoes librational motion described as diffusion on a spherical "cap" of semiangle theta 0. Abstract | PDF (857 kb) |
Copyright © 1996 The Biophysical Society. All rights reserved.
Biophysical Journal, Volume 70, Issue 3, 1472-1484, 1 March 1996
doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(96)79709-6
Research Article
J.M. Rydzewski and T. Schleich
Deuterated 3-trimethylsilylpropionic acid binding to bovine serum albumin was used as a model system to examine the feasibility and limitations of using the deuterium off-resonance rotating frame spin-lattice relaxation experiment for the study of equilibrium ligand-binding behavior to proteins. The results of this study demonstrate that the rotational-diffusion behavior of the bound species can be monitored directly, i.e., the observed correlation time of the ligand in the presence of a protein is approximately equal to the correlation time of the ligand in the bound state, provided that the fraction of bound ligand is at least 0.20. The presence of local ligand motion and/or chemical exchange contributions to relaxation in the bound state was inferred from the observation that the correlation time of the bound ligand was somewhat smaller than the correlation time characterizing the overall tumbling of the protein. An approximate value for the fraction of bound ligand was obtained from off-resonance relaxation experiments when supplemental spin-lattice or transverse relaxation times were employed in the analysis. Incorporation of local motion effects for the bound species into the theoretical relaxation formalism enabled the evaluation of an order parameter and an effective correlation time, which in conjunction with a wobbling in a cone model, provided additional information about ligand motion in the bound state.