Transmembrane and extramembrane contributions to membrane protein thermal stability: studies with the NaChBac sodium channel
Powl, Andrew M. and Miles, Andrew J. and Wallace, Bonnie A. (2012) Transmembrane and extramembrane contributions to membrane protein thermal stability: studies with the NaChBac sodium channel. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes 1818 (3), pp. 889-895. ISSN 0006-3002.
Abstract
The thermal stabilities of the extramembranous and transmembranous regions of the bacterial voltage-gated sodium channel NaChBac have been characterised using thermal-melt synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD) spectroscopy. A series of constructs, ranging from the full-length protein containing both the C-terminal ectodomain and the transmembrane domain, to proteins with decreasing amounts of the ectodomain, were examined in order to separately define the roles of these two types of domains in the stability and processes of unfolding of a membrane protein. The sensitivity of the SRCD measurements over a wide range of wavelengths and temperatures has meant that subtle but reproducible conformational changes could be detected with accuracy. The residues in the C-terminal ectodomain were highly susceptible to thermal denaturation, but for the most part the transmembrane residues were not thermally-labile and retained their helical character even at very elevated temperatures. The process of thermal unfolding involved an initial irreversible unfolding of the highly labile distal extramembranous C-terminal helical region, which was accompanied by a reversible unfolding of a small number of helical residues in the transmembrane domain. This was then followed by the irreversible unfolding of a limited number of additional transmembrane helical residues at greatly elevated temperatures. Hence this study has been able to determine the different contributions and roles of the transmembrane and extramembrane residues in the processes of thermal denaturation of this multipass integral membrane protein.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Protein Stability, Membrane Protein Folding/Unfolding, Synchrotron Radiation Circular Dichroism (SRCD) Spectroscopy, Secondary Structure, Ectodomain |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences |
| Research Centres and Institutes: | Bioinformatics, Bloomsbury Centre for (Closed), Structural Molecular Biology, Institute of (ISMB) |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Jan 2012 10:13 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 16:57 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4534 |
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