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Photosystem I reaction centers of the cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus are investigated using single-molecule spectroscopy and observations reveal that only a few chlorophylls are responsible for the photoemission from the Photosystem I (PSI) trimer. This implies an efficient energy transfer between the monomeric subunits of the PSI trimer and shows an efficient triplet state quenching of the red chlorophylls.

The influence exerted on an integral membrane protein by its environment using the light-harvesting complex (LHI) of purple bacteria as a model, is studied. It is concluded that membrane environment significantly narrows the statistical distribution of conformational states available to the LH1 complex in comparison to the corresponding state distribution observed for the same detergent-solubilized protein.

Research demonstrates that stabilization of the circular symmetric arrangement of the bacteriochlorophyll pigments is mediated by the interaction of the reaction center with the light harvesting complex 1 as determined by single molecule microscopy, cryoelectronmicroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Data show an elliptical distortion of the light harvesting complex 1 induced by the reaction center.

Abstract: The proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) binds two distinct plasma membrane receptors, TNFR1 and TNFR2. We have produced different receptor mutants fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein to study their membrane dynamics by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). TNFR1 mutants show diffusion constants of approximately 1.2×10−9 cm2/s and a broad distribution of diffusion times, which is hardly affected by ligand binding. However, cholesterol depletion enhances their diffusion, suggesting a constitutive affinity to cholesterol rich membrane microdomains. In contrast, TNFR2 and mutants thereof diffuse rather fast (D̄ =3.1×10−9 cm2/s) with a marked reduction after 30min of TNF treatment (D̄ =0.9×10−9 cm2/s). This reduction cannot be explained by the formation of higher ordered receptor clusters, since the fluorescence intensity of TNF treated receptors indicate the presence of a few receptor molecules per complex only. Together, these data point to a topological segregation of the two TNF receptors in different microcompartments of the plasma membrane independent of the cytoplasmic signaling domains of the receptors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The proinflammatory cytokine Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) exists as a homotrimer, capable of binding three receptor molecules. However, signal competent ligand/receptor complexes form large clusters, likely to be stabilized by additional molecular interactions. Both TNF receptors, TNFR1 and TNFR2, contain four cysteine rich domains (CRD) in their extracellular parts. Previous work showed that the membrane distal CRD1 carries a homophilic interaction domain. Here, we investigated the functional role of CRD1 and its two submodules, A1CRD1 and B2CRD1, in a TNFR1-Fas chimera model system. Removal of CRD1 abolishes TNF binding. In line with these data, molecular dynamics simulations suggest that B2CRD1 of TNFR1 serves as a scaffold to stabilize CRD2 in a conformation necessary for high affinity ligand binding. Deletion of only the N-terminal half of CRD1 (ΔA1CRD1) of TNFR1 marginally affects ligand binding but abrogates responsiveness towards soluble TNF and reduces effectiveness as a dominant negative inhibitor of wild type TNFR1. A TNFR1-derived molecule containing the CRD1 from TNFR2 also shows reduced responsiveness to soluble TNF. These data strongly suggest that CRD1 is not only crucially involved in multimerization of unligated receptors, but is also directly involved in formation of signal competent ligand/receptor clusters, thereby controlling receptor responsiveness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) signals via a receptor complex consisting of the specific CNTF receptor (CNTFR) and two promiscuous signal transducers, gp130 and leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR). Whereas earlier studies suggested that the signaling complex is a hexamer, more recent analyses strongly support a tetrameric structure. However, all studies so far analyzed the stoichiometry of the CNTF receptor complex in vitro and not in the context of living cells. We generated and expressed in mammalian cells acyl carrier protein-tagged versions of both CNTF and CNTFR. After labeling CNTF and CNTFR with different dyes we analyzed their diffusion behavior at the cell surface. Fluorescence (cross) correlation spectroscopy (FCS/FCCS) measurements reveal that CNTFR diffuses with a diffusion constant of about 2×10−9 cm2 s−1 independent of whether CNTF is bound or not. FCS and FCCS measurements detect the formation of receptor complexes containing at least two CNTFs and CNTFRs. In addition, we measured Förster-type fluorescence resonance energy transfer between two differently labeled CNTFs within a receptor complex indicating a distance of 5–7 nm between the two. These findings are not consistent with a tetrameric structure of the CNTFR complex suggesting that either hexamers and or even higher-order structures (e.g. an octamer containing two tetramers) are formed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is now a widely used technique to measure small ensembles of labeled biomolecules with single molecule detection sensitivity (e.g., low endogenous concentrations). Fluorescence cross correlation spectroscopy (FCCS) is a derivative of this technique that detects the synchronous movement of two biomolecules with different fluorescence labels. Both methods can be applied to live cells and, therefore, can be used to address a variety of unsolved questions in cell biology. Applications of FCCS with autofluorescent proteins (AFPs) have been hampered so far by cross talk between the detector channels due to the large spectral overlap of the fluorophores. Here we present a new method that combines advantages of these techniques to analyze binding behavior of proteins in live cells. To achieve this, we have used dual color excitation of a common pair of AFPs, ECFP and EYFP, being discriminated in excitation rather than in emission. This is made possible by pulsed excitation and detection on a shorter timescale compared to the average residence time of particles in the FCS volume element. By this technique we were able to eliminate cross talk in the detector channels and obtain an undisturbed cross correlation signal. The setup was tested with ECFP/EYFP lysates as well as chimeras as negative and positive controls and demonstrated to work in live HeLa cells coexpressing the two fusion proteins ECFP-connexin and EYFP-connexin.