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Amphipols (APols) are amphiphatic polymers that keep membrane proteins (MPs) water-soluble. The best characterized and most widely used APol to date, A8-35, comprises a polyacrylate backbone grafted with octyl- and isopropylamine side chains. The nature of its hydrophilic moieties prevents its use at the slightly acidic pH that is desirable to slow down the rate of amide proton exchange in solution NMR studies. We describe here the synthesis and properties of pH-insensitive APols obtained by replacing isopropyles with taurine. Sulfonated APols (SAPols) can be used to trap MPs in the form of small complexes, to stabilize them, and to keep them water-soluble even at low pH. [15N,1H]-transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy NMR spectra obtained at pH 6.8 of a bacterial outer MP folded in SAPols show that the protein is correctly folded. The spectra have a resolution similar to that achieved with A8-35 and reveal water-exposed amide and indole protons whose resonance peaks are absent at pH 8.0. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 95: 811-823, 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The respiratory chain in the inner mitochondrial membrane contains three large multi-enzyme complexes that together establish the proton gradient for ATP synthesis, and assemble into a supercomplex. A 19-Å 3D map of the 1.7-MDa amphipol-solubilized supercomplex I1III2IV1 from bovine heart obtained by single-particle electron cryo-microscopy reveals an amphipol belt replacing the membrane lipid bilayer. A precise fit of the X-ray structures of complex I, the complex III dimer, and monomeric complex IV indicates distances of 13 nm between the ubiquinol-binding sites of complexes I and III, and of 10-11 nm between the cytochrome c binding sites of complexes III and IV. The arrangement of respiratory chain complexes suggests two possible pathways for efficient electron transfer through the supercomplex, of which the shorter branch through the complex III monomer proximal to complex I may be preferred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two transmembrane peptides encompassing the seventh transmembrane section of subunit a from V-ATPase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae were studied as complexes with APols A8-35 by CD and fluorescence spectroscopy, with the goal to use APols to provide a membrane-mimicking environment for the peptides. CD spectroscopy was used to obtain the overall secondary structure of the peptides, whereas fluorescence spectroscopy provided information about the local environment of their tryptophan residues. The fluorescence results indicate that both peptides are trapped by APols and the CD results that they adopt a β-sheet conformation. This result is in contrast with previous work that showed that the same peptides are α-helical in SDS micelles and organic solvents. These observations are discussed in the context of APol physical-chemical properties and transmembrane peptide structural propensity. Copyright © 2007 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the three-dimensional (3D) structure determination of macromolecules, cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is an important method for obtaining micrographs of unstained specimens for the single-particle reconstruction approach. For cryo-EM, proteins are fixed in a frozen hydrated state by quick-freezing in a thin water layer on a holey carbon film. Cryo-EM of detergent-solubilized membrane proteins is hindered by the fact that detergents reduce the surface tension of water, so that it is difficult to control the ice thickness and the distribution of protein. Amphipols are a new class of amphipathic polymers designed to handle membrane proteins in aqueous solutions under particularly mild conditions. Amphipol A8-35 stabilizesNADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) from Neurospora crassa and keeps it water-soluble in the absence of free detergent. Electron microscope images of quick-frozen complex I/A8-35 samples were used for computer-based single-particle averaging and 3D reconstruction, and the reconstruction of unstained frozen-hydrated particles compared with previous detergent-based reconstructions. The potential of amphipols for cryo-EM is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instability of membrane proteins in detergent solution can generally be traced to the dissociating character of detergents and often correlates with delipidation. We examine here the possibility of substituting detergents, after membrane proteins have been solubilized, with non-detergent surfactants whose hydrophobic moiety contains a perfluorinated region that makes it lipophobic. In order to improve its affinity for the protein surface, the fluorinated chain is terminated by an ethyl group. Test proteins included bacteriorhodopsin, the cytochrome b6f complex, and the transmembrane region of the bacterial outer membrane protein OmpA. All three proteins were purified using classical detergents and transferred into solutions of C2H5C6F12C2H4-S-poly-Tris-(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (HF-TAC). Transfer to HF-TAC maintained the native state of the proteins and prevented their precipitation. Provided the concentration of HF-TAC was high enough, HF-TAC/membrane protein complexes ran as single bands upon centrifugation in sucrose gradients. Bacteriorhodopsin and the cytochrome b6f complex, both of which are detergent-sensitive, exhibited increased biochemical stability upon extended storage in the presence of a high concentration of HF-TAC as compared to detergent micelles. The stabilization of cytochrome b6f is at least partly due to a better retention of protein-bound lipids. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The folding of α-helical membrane proteins has previously been described using the two stage model, in which the membrane insertion of independently stable α-helices is followed by their mutual interactions within the membrane to give higher order folding and oligomerization. Given recent advances in our understanding of membrane protein structure it has become apparent that in some cases the model may not fully represent the folding process. Here we present a three stage model which gives considerations to ligand binding, folding of extramembranous loops, insertion of peripheral domains and the formation of quaternary structure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The binding of a fluorescent agonist to the acetycholine receptor from Torpedo electric organ has been studied by time-resolved spectroscopy in three different environments: in native membrane fragments, in the detergent CHAPS, and after complexation by amphipathic polymers (‘amphipols’). Binding kinetics was similar in the membrane and in amphipols, demonstrating that the receptor can display unaltered allosteric transitions outside its natural lipid environment. In contrast, allosteric equilibria were strongly shifted towards the desensitized state in CHAPS. Therefore, the effect of CHAPS likely results from molecular interactions rather than from the loss of bulk physical properties of the membrane environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Examines the limitations to in vivo import of hydrophobic proteins into yeast mitochondria. Local hydrophobicity of a transmembrane segment; Barriers that might be expected to impede relocation of an organellar gene to the nucleus.

The ‘functional’ state of the acetylcholine receptor protein has been followed during reconstitution with the fluorescent agonist [1-(5-dimethylaminonaphthalene)-sulfonamido]-n-hexanoic acid-β-N-trimethylammonium bromide ethyl ester (Dns-C6-Cho) and rapid-mixing techniques. Under appropriate conditions, a majority of the acetylcholine receptor sites can be recovered in a low-affinity state(s) for Dns-C6-Cho, similar to that found with the native membrane-bound receptor. This state can be slowly interconverted to a high-affinity state after rapid mixing with the agonist, and the non- competitive channel blockers, like the local anesthetics, still regulate this transition in an allosteric manner. Several experimental conditions commonly used for the solubilization of the receptor and for its purification in the presence of sodium cholate result in the failure of reconstitution: the soluble receptor protein is stabilized in a low-affinity state which can no longer be interconverted to a high-affinity state in the presence of agonists or local anesthetics. On the other hand, it is demonstrated that if the concentration of lipids remains elevated in the presence of sodium chotate, a soluble (9 S) low-affinity form of the receptor protein can be obtained which shows most of the characteristic properties of the membrane-bound receptor and in particular the slow interconversion to the high-affinity state and the effect of local anesthetics on this transition; furthermore, in these conditions the soluble protein can be manipulated ad libitum and submitted, for instance, to column filtrations and sucrose gradient centrifugations in the presence of detergent, without losing its characteristic conformational and allosteric transitions. After elimination of the detergent this form yields a reconstituted receptor which presents binding properties identical to those of the native membrane-bound receptor and leads to the formation of vesicles which exhibit carbamylcholine-sensitive ion fluxes. A necessary and sufficient condition for functional reconstitution is therefore the conservation, in the presence of lipids, of the allosteric properties of the receptor protein in its detergent-soluble form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The respiratory chain in the inner mitochondrial membrane contains three large multi-enzyme complexes that together establish the proton gradient for ATP synthesis, and assemble into a supercomplex. A 19-Å 3D map of the 1.7-MDa amphipol-solubilized supercomplex I1III2IV1 from bovine heart obtained by single-particle electron cryo-microscopy reveals an amphipol belt replacing the membrane lipid bilayer. A precise fit of the X-ray structures of complex I, the complex III dimer, and monomeric complex IV indicates distances of 13 nm between the ubiquinol-binding sites of complexes I and III, and of 10-11 nm between the cytochrome c binding sites of complexes III and IV. The arrangement of respiratory chain complexes suggests two possible pathways for efficient electron transfer through the supercomplex, of which the shorter branch through the complex III monomer proximal to complex I may be preferred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]