Open channel noise. V. Fluctuating barriers to ion entry in gramicidin A channels

We have measured the fluctuations in the current through gramicidin A (GA) channels in symmetrical solutions of monovalent cations of various concentrations, and compared the spectral density values with those computed using E. Frehland's theory for noise in discrete transport systems (Frehland, E. 1978. Biophys. Chem. 8:255-265). The noise for the transport of NH4+ and Na+ ions in glycerol-monooleate/squalene membranes could be accounted for entirely by "shot noise" in the process of transport through a single-filing pore with two ion binding sites. However, in confirmation of results in a previous paper (Sigworth, F. J., D. W. Urry, and K. U. Prasad. 1987. Biophys. J. 52:1055-1064) currents of Cs+ showed a substantial excess noise at low ion concentrations, as did currents of K+ and Rb+. The excess noise was increased in thicker membranes. The observations are accounted for by a theory that postulates fluctuations of the entry rates of ions into the channel on a time scale of approximately 1 microsecond. These fluctuations occur preferentially when the channel is empty; the presence of bound ions stabilizes the "high conductance" conformation of the channel. The fluctuations are sensed to different degrees by the various ion species, and their kinetics depend on membrane thickness.

Gramicidin single-channel properties show no solvent-history dependence

The structure of membrane-associated gramicidins can depend on the solvent in which they were dissolved prior to membrane incorporation (LoGrasso, P. V., F. Moll, and T. A. Cross 1988. Biophys. J. 54:259-267; Killian, J. A., K. U. Prasad, D. Hains, and D. W. Urry. 1988. Biochemistry. 27:4848-4855). The peptide's solvent history might thus affect the functional characteristics of gramicidin channels (op. cit.). We tested this proposal by examining the properties (conductance, conductance dispersity, and average duration) of channels formed by [Val1]gramicidin A that had been dissolved in eight different solvents. The peptide was incorporated into lipid bilayers either by addition to the aqueous phase (and subsequent adsorption to the membrane) or by cosolubilization with the membrane-forming phospholipid. When the peptide was cosolubilized with the phospholipid, the channel properties did not vary with the solvent used. When the peptide was dissolved in chloroform, benzene, or trifluoroethanol and added through the aqueous phase, the channel properties differed from those found when gramidicin was dissolved in methanol, ethanol, dioxane, dimethylsulfoxide, or ethylacetate. The changes observed with the former three solvents were reproduced by adding them to the aqueous phase, and are therefore due to the ability of these solvents to partition into the membrane and alter the channels' behavior.

Environments and conformations of tryptophan side chains of gramicidin A in phospholipid bilayers studied by Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy has been used to investigate the hydrophobic interaction of the indole ring with the environments, the water accessibility to the N1H site, and the conformation about the C beta-C3 bond for the four tryptophan side chains of gramicidin A incorporated into phospholipid bilayers. Most of the tryptophan side chains of the head-to-head helical dimer transmembrane channel are strongly interacting with the lipid hydrocarbon chains, and the hydrophobic interactions for the rest increase with increasing hydrocarbon chain length of the lipid. One tryptophan side chain (probably Trp-15) is accessible to water molecules, another (Trp-9) is deeply buried in the bilayer and inaccessible, and the accessibilities of the remaining two (Trp-11 and Trp-13) depend on the bilayer thickness. The torsional angle about the C beta-C3 bond is found to be +/- 90 degrees for all the tryptophans irrespective of the membrane thickness. Binding of the sodium cation to the channel does not change the torsional angles but decreases the water accessibilities of two tryptophans (Trp-11 and Trp-13) considerably. In conjunction with a slight spectral change in the amide III region, it is suggested that the sodium binding causes a partial change in the main-chain conformation around Trp-11 and Trp-13, which results in the movements of these side chains toward the bilayer center. Two models consistent with the present Raman data are proposed for the tryptophan orientation in the dominant channel structure.

Optimizing and characterizing alignment of oriented lipid bilayers containing gramicidin D

31P NMR spectroscopy and optical microscopy have been used to characterize samples of gramicidin D in oriented lipid bilayers. Correlations have been made between the defect structures observed under crossed polarizers by optical microscopy and characteristic features of 31P NMR spectra. The sample preparation protocol has been improved using these techniques to achieve minimal dispersion of the bilayer normal and minimal amounts of unoriented sample. The molar ratio of gramicidin to dimyristoyl-phosphatidylcholine, the extent of hydration, and the cosolubilizing solvent system were used as the protocol variables. While hydration level and solvent system had profound effects on the sample orientation the molar ratio did not. However, the 31P chemical shift anisotropy is very sensitive to the molar ratio and can be used as an in situ method for determining the molar ratio.

Kinetics of channel formation of gramicidins A and B in phospholipid vesicle membranes

The thermal incorporation and channel formation of gramicidins A and B into phosphatidylcholine/phosphatidylglycerol large unilamellar vesicle membranes was studied using 23Na NMR. Delta H and delta S of activation for channel formation for gramicidin A are 11.8 kcal/mol and -11 e.u., respectively. For gramicidin B, delta H and delta S of activation are 14.6 kcal/mol and -4 e.u., respectively. Possible reasons for the differences in delta H and delta S of activation between the two analogues are discussed.

Platelet-activating factor is a general membrane perturbant

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is, at physiological (nanomolar) concentrations, a potent mediator of inflammation and coagulation. At pharmacological (micromolar) concentrations, PAF induces a variety of effects in diverse tissues. Here we show that PAF at micromolar concentrations is a membrane perturbant. Micromolar PAF alters the properties of channels formed by gramicidin A, and at concentrations greater than or equal to 4 microM disrupts the barrier properties of the host lipid bilayer. PAF thus can act as a detergent and non-specifically alter the behavior of membranes and membrane proteins. This may provide an explanation for some of the effects of PAF seen at high concentrations in vitro.

Monte Carlo studies of lipid chains and gramicidin A in a model membrane

The Monte Carlo method has been used to simulate the equilibrium properties of a planar array of 94 saturated lipid chains and one monomer of Gramicidin A. Chains are free to move laterally in the layer plane and to change conformation via gauche rotations and long axis rotations in a continuum. All non-hydrogen atoms on chains and on the Gramicidin A monomer interact via 6-12 potentials, and periodic boundary conditions are imposed. Calculated results consist of order parameter profiles for C-14 and C-16 chains. Profiles are calculated for chains which are neighbors to the Gramicidin A molecule and for chains which are not neighbors to the peptide. The main conclusion is that the average conformations of the chains neighboring the Gramicidin A monomer are very similar to those of the bulk chains.

Gramicidin cation channel: an experimental determination of the right-handed helix sense and verification of beta-type hydrogen bonding

Due to the difficulty of obtaining protein/lipid cocrystals for diffraction studies, structural research on intrinsic membrane proteins and polypeptides has been largely restricted to indirect experimental techniques. Hence, many fundamental questions associated with peptide/lipid systems remain unanswered. In particular, the handedness of the gramicidin A transmembrane ion channel incorporated into lipid bilayers has been an open question for nearly two decades. In this study, solid-state 15N NMR spectroscopy is employed to probe directly the secondary structure of the polypeptide backbone. Recent determinations of the 15N chemical shift anisotropy tensor with respect to the molecular frame enable the quantitative evaluation of the 15N chemical shift resonances obtained from oriented dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) bilayer samples containing specific site 15N labeled gramicidin. This direct structural approach verifies the beta-sheet hydrogen-bonding pattern proposed by Urry [Urry, D. W. (1971) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 68, 672-676] and determines that in our DMPC bilayer preparations the gramicidin channel is right-handed. Additional structural information is provided by the 15N chemical shift data in the form of orientational constraints on the C alpha-C alpha axis orientation of individual peptides relative to the helix axis. The significance of these solid-state NMR results lies in the direct determination of the helix sense and the verification of the beta-type hydrogen bonding, in the development of the solid-state NMR methods for obtaining such information, and in emphasizing the importance of having direct structural data at atomic resolution.

Effects of cholesterol or gramicidin on slow and fast motions of phospholipids in oriented bilayers

Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation both in the rotating frame and in the laboratory frame is used to investigate the slow and fast molecular motions of phospholipids in oriented bilayers in the liquid crystalline phase. The bilayers are prepared from a perdeuterated phospholipid labeled with a pair of 19F atoms at the 7 position of the 2-sn acyl chain. Phospholipid-cholesterol or phospholipid-gramicidin interactions are characterized by measuring the relaxation rates as a function of the bilayer orientation, the locking field, and the temperature. Our studies show that cholesterol or gramicidin can specifically enhance the relaxation due to slow motions in phospholipid bilayers with correlation times tau s longer than 10(-8) sec. The perturbations of the geometry of the slow motions induced by cholesterol are qualitatively different from those induced by gramicidin. In contrast, the presence of cholesterol or gramicidin slightly suppresses the fast motions with correlation times tau f = 10(-9) to 10(-10) sec without significantly affecting their geometry. Weak locking-field and temperature dependences are observed for both pure lipid bilayers and bilayers containing either cholesterol or gramicidin, suggesting that the motions of phospholipid acyl chains may have dispersed correlation times.

Slow motions in oriented phospholipid bilayers and effects of cholesterol or gramicidin. A 19F-NMR T1 rho study

In an extension of our earlier work (Peng, Z.-y., V. Simplaceanu, I. J. Lowe, and C. Ho. 1988. Biophys. J. 54:81-95), the rotating-frame nuclear spin-lattice relaxation (T1 rho) technique has been used to investigate the slow molecular motions (10(-4) - 10(-6) s) in lipid bilayers prepared from protonated or perdeuterated 19F-labeled phospholipids in the absence and presence of cholesterol or gramicidin as membrane-interacting molecules. Complications caused by the 19F-1H cross-polarization observed previously can be removed by the substitution of 2H for 1H in the acyl chains. Only a weak dependence of the T-1(1 rho) on the locking field strength is found for a phospholipid molecule with perdeuterated acyl chains, indicating that there are no slow motions with a single, well-defined correlation time between 5 x 10(-6) and 4 x 10(-5) s. However, the orientation dependences of the T-1(1 rho) can be well fitted by motional models with either one slow motion having an unspecified geometry or with a superposition of two specific types of slow motions. Cholesterol and gramicidin show distinct effects in altering either the geometry or the weighting of slow motions in phospholipid bilayers, as reflected by changes in the orientation dependence. These two additives also exhibit quite different label-position specificities. A qualitative understanding of the induced effects of cholesterol and gramicidin on the dynamics of phospholipid bilayers will be discussed.

Effect of acyl chain length on the structure and motion of gramicidin A in lipid bilayers

The transmembrane ion transport properties of gramicidin A have previously been shown to dependent on the nature of its lipid environment. Solid-state NMR spectroscopic studies of 13C-labelled analogues of gramicidin in oriented multilayers of phosphatidylcholine have shown that variation of the lipid hydrocarbon chain length has no effect on the structure or orientation of the peptide backbone.

Membrane potential, anion and cation conductances in Ehrlich ascites tumor cells

The fluorescence intensity of the dye 1,1'-dipropylox-adicarbocyanine (DiOC3-(5] has been measured in suspensions of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells in an attempt to monitor their membrane potential (Vm) under different ionic conditions, after treatment with cation ionophores and after hypotonic cell swelling. Calibration is performed with gramicidin in Na+-free K-/choline-media, i.e., standard medium in which NaCl is replaced by KCl and cholineCl and where the sum of potassium and choline is kept constant at 155 mM. Calibration by the valinomycin "null point" procedure described by Laris et al. (Laris, P.C., Pershadsingh, A., Johnstone, R.M., 1976, Biochim, Biophys. Acta 436:475-488) is shown to be valid only in the presence of the Cl- -channel blocker indacrinone (MK196). Distribution of the lipophilic anion SCN- as an indirect estimation of the membrane potential is found not to be applicable for the fast changes in Vm reported in this paper. Incubation with DiOC3-(5) for 5 min is demonstrated to reduce the Cl permeability by 26 +/- 5% and the NO3- permeability by 15 +/- 2%, while no significant effect of the probe could be demonstrated on the K+ permeability. Values for Vm, corrected for the inhibitory effect of the dye on the anion conductance, are estimated at -61 +/- 1 mV in isotonic standard NaCl medium, -78 +/- 3 mV in isotonic Na+-free choline medium and -46 +/- 1 mV in isotonic NaNO3 medium. The cell membrane is depolarized by addition of the K+ channel inhibitor quinine and it is hyperpolarized when the cells are suspended in Na+-free choline medium, indicating that Vm is generated partly by potassium and partly by sodium diffusion. Ehrlich cells have previously been shown to be more permeable to nitrate than to chloride. Substituting NO3- for all cellular and extracellular Cl- leads to a depolarization of the membrane, demonstrating that Vm is also generated by the anions and that anions are above equilibrium. Taking the previously demonstrated single-file behavior of the K+ channels into consideration, the membrane conductances in Ehrlich cells are estimated at 10.4 microS/cm2 for K+, 3.0 microS/cm2 for Na+, 0.6 microS/cm2 for Cl- and 8.7 microS/cm2 for NO3-. Addition of the Ca2+-ionophore A23187 results in net loss of KCl and a hyperpolarization of the membrane, indicating that the K+ permeability exceeds the Cl- permeability also after the addition of A23187. The K+ and Cl- conductances in A23187-treated Ehrlich cells are estimated at 134 and 30 microS/cm2, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Induction of conductance heterogeneity in gramicidin channels

In previous work from our laboratory, 5-10% of the channels formed by [Val1]gramicidin A have conductances that fall outside the narrow range that conventionally has defined the standard gramicidin channel [e.g., see Russell et al. (1986) Biophys. J. 49, 673]. Reports from other laboratories, however, show that up to 50% of [Val1]gramicidin channels have conductances that fall outside the range for standard channels [e.g., see Prasad et al. (1986) Biochemistry 25, 456]. This laboratory-to-laboratory variation in the distribution of gramicidin single-channel conductances suggests that the conductance variants are induced by some environmental factor(s) [Busath et al. (1987) Biophys. J. 51, 79]. In order to test whether extrinsic agents can induce such conductance heterogeneity, we examined the effects of nonionic or zwitterionic detergents upon gramicidin channel behavior. In phospholipid bilayers, detergent addition induces many changes in gramicidin channel behavior: all detergents tested increase the channel appearance rate and average duration; most detergents decrease the conductance of the standard channel; and all but one of the detergents increase the conductance heterogeneity. These results show that the conductance heterogeneity can result from environmental perturbations, thus providing a possible explanation for the laboratory-to-laboratory variation in the heterogeneity of gramicidin channels. In addition, the differential detergent effects suggest possible mechanisms by which detergents can induce the conformational perturbations that result in gramicidin single-channel conductance variations.

Determination of the structure of a membrane-incorporated ion channel. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance studies of gramicidin A

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on 13C-labeled analogues of the ion channel-forming peptide, gramicidin A, have been used to directly determine the structure of this peptide in lipid membranes. Seven gramicidin analogues, each labeled in a single carbonyl group of gly2, L-ala3, D-leu4, L-val7, D-leu10, D-leu12, or D-leu14 were synthesized by the solid-phase method. These gramicidin analogues were incorporated into aligned multilayers of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, or diether lipid bearing 14- or 16-carbon chains, at a 1:15 peptide:lipid mole ratio. Proton-enhanced, 13C, solid-state spectra were obtained at several temperatures and over a range of sample orientations with respect to the spectrometer magnetic field to permit accurate measurement of the chemical shift anisotropies. The observed anisotropies indicate that all of the labeled carbonyl bonds are oriented almost parallel to the molecular long axis and perpendicular to the lipid bilayer plane. These orientations are consistent with gramicidin forming a beta 6.3 single-strand helix that is oriented parallel to the methylene chains of the lipid molecules. Comparison of the linewidths from labeled residues that are in the innermost turn of the helix (gly2, ala3, and D-leu4), in the center of the molecule (val7), and in the turn nearest the lipid bilayer surface (D-leu10, D-leu12, and D-leu14) suggests that although the peptide behaves largely as a rigid barrel, segments of the peptide close to the membrane surface possess greater motional freedom. At temperatures above the gel-to-liquid crystalline transition temperature (Tc) the gramicidin molecules rotate, with a less than millisecond correlation time, about the bilayer normal: several degrees below Tc they become immobile on the NMR timescale, without change in the channel conformation. In the L beta' phase the linewidths of the D-leu10, D-leu'2, and D-leu" resonances become equal to those of the other labeled sites, indicating reduced but equivalent motion for all of the peptide carbonyl groups.

Water and polypeptide conformations in the gramicidin channel. A molecular dynamics study

Theoretical studies of ion channels address several important questions. The mechanism of ion transport, the role of water structure, the fluctuations of the protein channel itself, and the influence of structural changes are accessible from these studies. In this paper, we have carried out a 70-ps molecular dynamics simulation on a model structure of gramicidin A with channel waters. The backbone of the protein has been analyzed with respect to the orientation of the carbonyl and the amide groups. The results are in conformity with the experimental NMR data. The structure of water and the hydrogen bonding network are also investigated. It is found that the water molecules inside the channel act as a collective chain; whereas the conformation in which all the waters are oriented with the dipoles pointing along the axis of the channel is a preferred one, others are also accessed during the dynamics simulation. A collective coordinate involving the channel waters and some of the hydrogen bonding peptide partners is required to describe the transition of waters from one configuration to the other.

Energetics of ion permeation through membrane channels. Solvation of Na+ by gramicidin A

Calculations of the solvation energetics for a Na+ ion inside the Gramicidin A channel and in water are presented. The protein dipoles Langevin dipoles (PDLD) method is used to obtain an electrostatic free energy profile for ion permeation through the channel. To gauge the quality of the PDLD results the solvation free energy of a Na+ ion in water and in the center of the channel is also calculated using free energy perturbation (FEP) simulations. The effect of the polarisability of the surrounding lipid membrane is taken into account by representing the membrane by a large grid of polarisable point dipoles. The two methods give similar solvation energies in the interior of the channel and these are less than 5 kcal/mol above the solvation free energy for Na+ in water, in good agreement with experimental data on the activation barriers for ion permeation. It appears that the problems associated with previous calculations of energy profiles in membrane channels can be overcome by a consistent treatment of all the relevant electrostatic contributions. In particular, we find that the induced dipoles of the membrane and the protein contributes with approximately 10 kcal/mol to the solvation energy inside the channel and can therefore not be discarded in a realistic description of ion solvation in the Gramicidin channel.

HPLC study on the 'history' dependence of gramicidin A conformation in phospholipid model membranes

A novel HPLC methodology for the study of gramicidin A reconstituted in model membranes has been tested in comparison with circular dichroism data. It is shown that this chromatographic technique not only corroborates most of the recent spectroscopic results but allows one to explain them in terms of mass fractions of different actual conformational species of GA in the phospholipid assemblies. In particular, the dependence of the inserted peptide configuration on the organic solvent and other parameters involved in the 'history' of the sample preparation and handling has been analyzed by HPLC in two phospholipid model systems: small unilamellar vesicles and micelles. Moreover, a slow conformational transition of GA towards a beta 6.3-helical configuration, accelerated by heat incubation, has been also chromatographically visualized and quantitatively interpreted.

How electrolyte shielding influences the electrical potential in transmembrane ion channels

The electrical potential due to fixed charge distributions is strongly altered in the vicinity of a membrane and notably dependent on aqueous electrolyte concentration. We present an efficient way to solve the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation applicable to general cylindrically symmetric dielectric geometries. It generalizes Gouy-Chapman theory to systems containing transmembrane channels. The method is applied to three channel systems: gramicidin, gap junction, and porin. We find that for a long, narrow channel such as gramicidin concentration variation has little influence on the electrical image barrier to ion permeation. However, electrolyte shielding reduces the image induced contribution to the energy required for multiple occupancy. In addition, the presence of electrolyte significantly affects the voltage profile due to an applied potential, substantially compressing the electric field to the immediate vicinity of the pore itself. In the large diameter channels, where bulk electrolyte may be assumed to enter the pore, the electrolyte greatly reduces the image barrier to ion permeation. At physiological ionic strengths this barrier is negligible and the channel may be readily multiply occupied. At all ionic strengths considered (l greater than 0.005 M) the image barrier saturates rapidly and is essentially constant more than one channel radius from the entrance to the pore. At lower ionic strengths (l less than 0.016 M) there are noticeable (greater than 20 mV) energy penalties associated with multiple occupancy.

Closed-time distribution of ionic channels. Analytical solution to a one-dimensional defect-diffusion model

A one-dimensional version of the model recently proposed by Läuger (1988) to explain the closed-time distribution of ionic channels in cell membranes is solved analytically. While the probability density f(t) for closed-time lengths may show a well-defined exponential behavior at short times, a power-law decay is predicted at long times. The influence of an additional random distribution of defects in the current-conducting protein is investigated and found to be dominating at long times. Explicit expressions that may be used for fitting experimental data are given for the closed-time distribution. Some of the available data are discussed and shown to be in good agreement with the predictions of the model.

Influence of proteins on the reorganization of phospholipid bilayers into large domains

Using large (5-10 microns) vesicles formed in the presence of phospholipids fluorescently labeled on the acyl chain and visualized using a fluorescence microscope, charge-coupled-device camera, and digital image processor, we examined the effects of membrane proteins on phospholipid domain formation. In vesicles composed of phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylcholine, incubation with cytochrome c induced the reorganization of phospholipids into large phosphatidic acid-enriched domains with the exclusion of phosphatidylcholine. Cytochrome c binding was demonstrated to be highest in the phosphatidic acid-enriched domain of the vesicle using the absorbance of the heme moiety for visualization. Both binding of cytochrome c and phospholipid reorganization were blocked by pretreatment of the vesicles with 0.1 M NaCl. The pore forming peptide gramicidin was examined for the effects of an integral protein on domain formation. Initially, gramicidin distributed randomly within the vesicle and showed no phospholipid specificity. Phosphatidic acid domain formation in the presence of 2.0 mM CaCl2 or 100 microM cytochrome c was not affected by the presence of 5 mol % gramicidin within the vesicles. In both cases, gramicidin was preferentially excluded from the phosphatidic acid-enriched domain and became associated with phosphatidylcholine-enriched areas of the vesicle. Thus, cytochrome c caused a major reorganization of both the phospholipids and the proteins in the bilayer.

The different influences of ether and ester phospholipids on the conformation of gramicidin A. A molecular modelling study

With AMBER (assisted model building with energy refinement) molecular modelling techniques, the interactions between lipids which differ in the type of chain linkage (e.g., ether or ester) and gramicidin were approximated. It was found, theoretically, that replacement of the ester function in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) by an ether moiety induces a shift in the rotameric distribution of the Trp-15 side-chain in gramicidin A. Concomitantly, the channel entrance is contracted by approx. 0.4 A. The perturbation can be related to the strong hydrogen-bond formed between the lipid carbonyl group and the indole proton of the Trp-15 residue of gramicidin. In the ether lipid-gramicidin assembly a weaker H-bond is formed between Trp-15 and the phosphate moiety. To obtain a first indication of the influence of the strength of this H-bond on gramicidin A, a preliminary experimental study was set up. The transport properties of gramicidin A were studied using efflux measurements through vesicle walls containing ether and ester lipids, respectively. A change in the permeability of gramicidin A was found when ether lipids were added to a bilayer composed of the ester lipid dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC).

Interfacial properties of gramicidin and gramicidin-lipid mixtures measured with static and dynamic monolayer techniques

Gramicidin films at the air/water interface are shown to exhibit a phase transition at 225 A2/molecule which might be caused by either cluster formation, reorientation of molecules, conformational changes or multilayer formation. It is further shown that coupling of a charged group on either NH2- or COOH-terminus or elongation of the peptide by two amino acids, only slightly affects the surface area characteristics whereas modification of the tryptophans or even replacement of a single tryptophan by phenylalanine leads to drastic alterations in the surface-area characteristics and a (partial) loss of the phase transition demonstrating that the tryptophans play an important role in the interfacial behavior of gramicidin. The lack of a solvent history effect on the interfacial behavior indicates a rapid conformational interconversion of the peptide at the air/water interface. Gramicidin in mixtures with dioleoylphosphatidylcholine and lysopalmitoylphosphatidylcholine shows a condensing effect whereas gramicidin shows ideal mixing with dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine. The condensing effect most likely is related to the aggregational state of the peptides which is different in phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines.

Thermodynamic parameters for the binding of divalent cations to gramicidin A incorporated into a lipid environment by Tl-205 nuclear magnetic resonance

Thermodynamic parameters, enthalpy and entropy, for the binding of the divalent cations, Mg+2, Ca+2, Sr+2, Ba+2, and Cd+2, to gramicidin A, incorporated into lysophosphatidylcholine, have been determined using a combination of Tl-205 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and competition binding. The binding process is thermodynamically driven by the enthalpy and not the entropy. The enthalpy values are related to the process involving the transfer of cations from an aqueous environment to an amide environment. A comparison is made between the thermodynamic parameters for the binding of monovalent and divalent cations to gramicidin A to illustrate the channel blocking ability of the divalent cations with respect to monovalent cation transport.

Structure of the ion channel peptide antibiotic gramicidin A

The crystal structure of the uncomplexed orthorhombic form of gramicidin A has been determined at 0.86 A resolution. The polypeptide crystallizes from ethanol as a left-handed, double-stranded, antiparallel beta 5.6-helical dimer that is 31 A long and an average of 4.8 A in diameter. The uncomplexed channel does not contain ions or solvent molecules, and its diameter is not uniform but varies from a minimum of 3.85 A to a maximum of 5.47 A. There are three empty cavities in the channel that have a diameter exceeding 5.25 A and appear to be large enough to accommodate water molecules or potassium ions in a chemically reasonable coordination environment. The observed crystal structure does not offer any obvious clues as to why an antiparallel beta 5.6-helix cannot function as an ion channel in lipid bilayers.