Interaction of membrane proteins and lipids with solubilizing detergents

Oligomeric states of the detergent-solubilized human serum paraoxonase (PON1)

Human plasma paraoxonase (HuPON1) is a high density lipoprotein (HDL)-bound enzyme exhibiting antiatherogenic properties. The molecular basis for the binding specificity of HuPON1 to HDL has not been established. Isolation of HuPON1 from HDL requires the use of detergents. We have determined the activity, dispersity, and oligomeric states of HuPON1 in solutions containing mild detergents using nondenaturing electrophoresis, size exclusion chromatography, and cross-linking. HuPON1 was active whatever its oligomeric state. In nonmicellar solutions, HuPON1 was polydisperse. In contrast, HuPON1 exhibited apparent homogeneity in micellar solutions, except with CHAPS. The enzyme apparent hydrodynamic radius varied with the type of detergent and protein concentration. In C(12)E(8) micellar solutions, from sedimentation velocity, equilibrium analytical ultracentrifugation, and radioactive detergent binding, HuPON1 was described as monomers and dimers in equilibrium. A decrease of the detergent concentration shifted this equilibrium toward the formation of dimers. About 100 detergent molecules were associated per monomer and dimer. The assembly of amphiphilic molecules, phospholipids in vivo, in sufficiently large aggregates could be a prerequisite for anchoring of HuPON1 and then allowing stabilization of the enzyme activity. Changes of HDL size and shape could strongly affect the binding affinity and stability of HuPON1 and result in reduced antioxidative capacity of the lipoprotein.

Modern analytical ultracentrifugation in protein science: a tutorial review

Analytical ultracentrifugation (AU) is reemerging as a versatile tool for the study of proteins. Monitoring the sedimentation of macromolecules in the centrifugal field allows their hydrodynamic and thermodynamic characterization in solution, without interaction with any matrix or surface. The combination of new instrumentation and powerful computational software for data analysis has led to major advances in the characterization of proteins and protein complexes. The pace of new advancements makes it difficult for protein scientists to gain sufficient expertise to apply modern AU to their research problems. To address this problem, this review builds from the basic concepts to advanced approaches for the characterization of protein systems, and key computational and internet resources are provided. We will first explore the characterization of proteins by sedimentation velocity (SV). Determination of sedimentation coefficients allows for the modeling of the hydrodynamic shape of proteins and protein complexes. The computational treatment of SV data to resolve sedimenting components has been achieved. Hence, SV can be very useful in the identification of the oligomeric state and the stoichiometry of heterogeneous interactions. The second major part of the review covers sedimentation equilibrium (SE) of proteins, including membrane proteins and glycoproteins. This is the method of choice for molar mass determinations and the study of self-association and heterogeneous interactions, such as protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, and protein-small molecule binding.

Stability of the lactose permease in detergent solutions

Protein stability, as measured by irreversible protein aggregation, is one of the central difficulties in the handling of detergent-solubilized membrane proteins. We present a quantitative analysis of the stability of the Escherichia coli lactose (lac) permease and a series of lac permease fusion proteins containing an insertion of cytochrome(b562), T4 lysozyme or beta-lactamase in the central hydrophilic loop of the permease. The stability of the proteins was evaluated under a variety of storage conditions by both a qualitative SDS-PAGE assay and by a quantitative hplc assay. Long-chain maltoside detergents were more effective at maintaining purified protein in solution than detergents with smaller head groups and/or shorter alkyl tails. A full factorial experiment established that the proteins were insensitive to sodium chloride concentrations, but greatly stabilized by glycerol, low temperature and the combination of glycerol and low temperature. The accurate quantitation of the protein by absorbance spectroscopy required exclusion of all contact with clarified polypropylene or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) materials. Although some of the fusion proteins were more prone to aggregation than the wild-type permease, the stability of a fusion protein containing a cytochrome(b562) insertion was indistinguishable from that of native lac permease.

Formation of lysophospholipids from unsaturated phosphatidylcholines under the influence of hypochlorous acid

The formation of lysophosphatidylcholines from unsaturated phosphatidylcholines upon treatment with hypochlorous acid was evaluated by means of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and 31P NMR spectroscopy. With an increasing number of double bonds in a fatty acid residue, the yield of lysophosphatidylcholines with a saturated fatty acid residue increased considerably in comparison to the total amount of higher molecular weight products like chlorohydrins and glycols. High amounts of lysophosphatidylcholines were formed from phospholipids containing arachidonic or docosahexaenoic acid residues. In phospholipids with monounsaturated fatty acid residues, the position of the double bond did not influence the yield of lyso-products. Besides the exclusive formation of chlorohydrin and glycol, hypochlorous acid caused the cleavage of the unsaturated fatty acid residue independent of its location at the first or second position of the glycerol backbone. In contrast, strong alkaline conditions, i.e. saponification led also to a hydrolysis of the saturated fatty acid residue from phosphatidylcholines. It is concluded that both MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and 31P NMR spectroscopy are able to detect the formation of lysophosphatidylcholines. We conclude also that the formation of lysophospholipids from unsaturated phosphatidylcholines by hypochlorous acid can be relevant in vivo under acute inflammatory conditions.

Nasal administration of low molecular weight heparin

The main objective of this study was to determine if the systemic absorption of therapeutic amounts of heparin was possible following nasal administration. Sprague-Dawley rats received nosedrops containing a low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) or unfractionated heparin (UFH) formulated with or without tetradecylmaltoside (TDM). TDM is a nonionic surfactant that has been previously shown to be a potent absorption enhancer in studies with peptide drugs. LMWH/UFH absorption was determined by measuring plasma anti-Factor Xa activity. The inclusion of 0.25% TDM in nasal formulations containing LMWH resulted in a significant increase in the C(max) and area under the curve (AUC) of anti-Factor Xa activity when compared to LMWH formulated in saline alone. The addition of TDM to a nasal formulation containing UFH resulted in a much smaller increase in the C(max) and the AUC of anti-Factor Xa activity. The absolute bioavailability of LMWH was increased from 4.0 +/- 0.4% in the absence of TDM to 19 +/- 0.3% in the presence of TDM. The reversibility of the absorption enhancing effect of TDM was studied by applying LMWH nasally 60 or 120 min after the enhancer. The effect of TDM on the nasal epithelia appeared to be rapidly reversible. In conclusion, nasal delivery of LMWH, but not UFH, was successful when an absorption enhancer was included to increase nasal permeability.

Membrane proteins: functional and structural studies using reconstituted proteoliposomes and 2-D crystals

Reconstitution of membrane proteins into lipid bilayers is a powerful tool to analyze functional as well as structural areas of membrane protein research. First, the proper incorporation of a purified membrane protein into closed lipid vesicles, to produce proteoliposomes, allows the investigation of transport and/or catalytic properties of any membrane protein without interference by other membrane components. Second, the incorporation of a large amount of membrane proteins into lipid bilayers to grow crystals confined to two dimensions has recently opened a new way to solve their structure at high resolution using electron crystallography. However, reconstitution of membrane proteins into functional proteoliposomes or 2-D crystallization has been an empirical domain, which has been viewed for a long time more like "black magic" than science. Nevertheless, in the last ten years, important progress has been made in acquiring knowledge of lipid-protein-detergent interactions and has permitted to build upon a set of basic principles that has limited the empirical approach of reconstitution experiments. Reconstitution strategies have been improved and new strategies have been developed, facilitating the success rate of proteoliposome formation and 2-D crystallization. This review deals with the various strategies available to obtain proteoliposomes and 2-D crystals from detergent-solubilized proteins. It gives an overview of the methods that have been applied, which may be of help for reconstituting more proteins into lipid bilayers in a form suitable for functional studies at the molecular level and for high-resolution structural analysis.

Synthesis and preliminary biochemical assessment of ethyl-terminated perfluoroalkylamine oxide surfactants

The synthesis and usefulness in membrane biochemistry of a new class of surfactants have been investigated. 1-Ethyl-2-dimethylamine oxide polar heads were grafted onto a hydrocarbon, a fluorocarbon or an ethyl-capped fluorocarbon hydrophobic tail. The ability of the resulting surfactants to extract and/or to stabilize in aqueous solution a test membrane protein, cytochrome b(6)f, was evaluated. While it is not a detergent, the hemifluorinated derivative efficiently kept purified cytochrome b(6)f soluble, native and functional. The data suggest that alkyl-capped fluorocarbon surfactants provide an interesting alternative to classical detergents for handling membrane proteins in aqueous solutions under non-dissociating conditions.

Purification of the Escherichia coli ammonium transporter AmtB reveals a trimeric stoichiometry

The Amt family of high-affinity ammonium transporters is a family of integral membrane proteins that are found in archaea, bacteria, fungi, plants and animals. Furthermore, the family has recently been extended to humans with the recognition that both the erythroid and non-erythroid Rhesus proteins are also ammonium transporters. The Escherichia coli AmtB protein offers a good model system for the Amt family and in order to address questions relating to both its structure and function we have overproduced a histidine-tagged form of the protein (AmtB6H) and purified it to homogeneity. We examined the quaternary structure of AmtB6H (which is active in vivo) by SDS/PAGE, gel-filtration chromatography, dynamic light scattering and sedimentation ultracentrifugation. The protein was resistant to dissociation by SDS and behaved as a stable oligomer on SDS/PAGE. By equilibrium desorption chromatography we determined the mass ratio of dodecyl beta-D-maltoside to AmtB in the detergent-solubilized complex to be 1.03+/-0.03, and this allowed us to calculate, from analytical-ultracentrifugation data, that AmtB purifies as a trimer.

Overproduction in yeast and rapid and efficient purification of the rabbit SERCA1a Ca(2+)-ATPase

Large amounts of heterologous C-terminally his-tagged SERCA1a Ca(2+)-ATPase were expressed in yeast using a galactose-regulated promoter and purified by Ni(2+) affinity chromatography followed by Reactive red chromatography. Optimizing the number of galactose inductions and increasing the amount of Gal4p transcription factor improved expression. Lowering the temperature from 28 degrees C to 18 degrees C during expression enhanced the recovery of solubilized and active Ca(2+)-ATPase. In these conditions, a 4 l yeast culture produced 100 mg of Ca(2+)-ATPase, 60 and 22 mg being pelleted with the heavy and light membrane fractions respectively, representing 7 and 1.7% of total proteins. The Ca(2+)-ATPase expressed in light membranes was 100% solubilized with L-alpha-lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), 50% with n-dodecyl beta-D-maltoside (DM) and 25% with octaethylene glycol mono-n-dodecyl ether (C(12)E(8)). Compared to LPC, DM preserved specific activity of the solubilized Ca(2+)-ATPase during the chromatographic steps. Starting from 1/6 (3.8 mg) of the total amount of Ca(2+)-ATPase expressed in light membranes, 800 microg could be routinely purified to 50% purity by metal affinity chromatography and then 200 microg to 70% with Reactive red chromatography. The purified Ca(2+)-ATPase displayed the same K(m) for calcium and ATP as the native enzyme but a reduced specific activity ranging from 4.5 to 7.3 micromol ATP hydrolyzed/min/mg Ca(2+)-ATPase. It was stable and active for several days at 4 degrees C or after removal of DM with Bio-beads and storage at -80 degrees C.

Nonionic amphiphilic polymers derived from Tris(hydroxymethyl)-acrylamidomethane keep membrane proteins soluble and native in the absence of detergent

A new family of amphipols-amphiphilic polymers designed to form water-soluble complexes with membrane proteins-was synthesized by free-radical telomerization of Tris(hydroxymethyl)-acrylamidomethane (THAM) and derivatized THAM. Some of these polymers were found to prevent aggregation and denaturation of two model membrane proteins, bacteriorhodopsin and cytochrome b(6) f, in the absence of detergent micelles.

Single chain antibodies specific for fatty acids derived from a semi-synthetic phage display library

The biological activities of many acylated molecules are lipid dependent. Lipids, however, are poorly immunogenic or non-immunogenic. We employed a phage display semi-synthetic human antibody library to isolate anti-lipid antibodies. Selection was done against methyl palmitate, a 16 carbon aliphatic chain, and a major component of bacterial glycolipids and lipoproteins in animal cells. The selected single chain variable fragment (scFv) bound specifically to a 16 carbon aliphatic chain and to a lesser extent to a 14 or 18 carbon aliphatic chain and poorly to either 12, 22 or 8 carbon aliphatic chains. Furthermore, the scFv prevented micelle formation of lipoteichoic acid from Gram-positive bacteria; inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor alpha release in mononuclear cells; bound to hydrophobic bacterial surfaces, especially those of Gram-positive bacteria, and bound to Lck, a mammalian palmitated lipoprotein. Our data suggest that the phage antibody library can be successfully employed to obtain human anti-aliphatic scFv human antibody fragment with potential therapeutic applications in neutralizing the deleterious effects of bacterial toxins as well as in structure--function analysis of lipoproteins in animal cells.

Yeast Sco1, a protein essential for cytochrome c oxidase function is a Cu(I)-binding protein

Sco1 is a conserved essential protein, which has been implicated in the delivery of copper to cytochrome c oxidase, the last enzyme of the electron transport chain. In this study, we show for the first time that the purified C-terminal domain of yeast Sco1 binds one Cu(I)/monomer. X-ray absorption spectroscopy suggests that the Cu(I) is ligated via three ligands, and we show that two cysteines, present in a conserved motif CXXXC, and a conserved histidine are involved in Cu(I) ligation. The mutation of any one of the conserved residues in Sco1 expressed in yeast abrogates the function of Sco1 resulting in a non-functional cytochrome c oxidase complex. Thus, the function of Sco1 correlates with Cu(I) binding. Data obtained from size-exclusion chromatography experiments with mitochondrial lysates suggest that full-length Sco1 may be oligomeric in vivo.

Role of protonatable groups of bovine heart bc(1) complex in ubiquinol binding and oxidation

The pH dependence of the initial reaction rate catalyzed by the isolated bovine heart ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (bc1 complex) varying decylbenzoquinol (DBH) and decylbenzoquinone (DB) concentrations was determined. The affinity for DBH was increased threefold by the protonation of a group with pKa = 5.7 +/- 0.2, while the inhibition constant (Ki) for DB decreased 22 and 2.8 times when groups with pKa = 5.2 +/- 0.6 and 7.7 +/- 0.2, respectively, were protonated. This suggests stabilization of the protonated form of the acidic group by DBH binding. Initial rates were best fitted to a kinetic model involving three protonatable groups. The protonation of the pKa approximately 5.7 group blocked catalysis, indicating its role in proton transfer. The kinetic model assumed that the deprotonation of two groups (pKa values of 7.5 +/- 0.03 and approximately 9.2) decreases the catalytic rate by diminishing the redox potential of the iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster. The protonation of the pKa approximately 7.5 group also decreased the reaction rate by 80-86%, suggesting its role as acceptor of a proton from ubiquinol. The lack of effect on the Km for DBH when the pKa 7.5-7.7 group is deprotonated suggests that hydrogen bonding to this residue is not the main factor that determines substrate binding to the Qo site. The possible relationship of the pKa 5.2-5.7 and pKa 7.5-7.7 groups with Glu272 of cytochrome b and His161 of the Fe-S protein is discussed.

Carbohydrate transporters of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS)

The glucose transporter of Escherichia coli couples translocation with phosphorylation of glucose. The IICB(Glc) subunit spans the membrane eight times. Split, circularly permuted and cyclized forms of IICB(Glc) are described. The split variant was 30 times more active when the two proteins were encoded by a dicistronic mRNA than by two genes. The stability and activity of circularly permuted forms was improved when they were expressed as fusion proteins with alkaline phosphatase. Cyclized IICB(Glc) and IIA(Glc) were produced in vivo by RecA intein-mediated trans-splicing. Purified, cyclized IIA(Glc) and IICB(Glc) had 100% and 30% of wild-type glucose phosphotransferase activity, respectively. Cyclized IIA(Glc) displayed increased stability against temperature and GuHCl-induced unfolding.

Detergents as probes of hydrophobic binding cavities in serum albumin and other water-soluble proteins

As an extension of our studies on the interaction of detergents with membranes and membrane proteins, we have investigated their binding to water-soluble proteins. Anionic aliphatic compounds (dodecanoate and dodecylsulfate) were bound to serum albumin with high affinity at nine sites; related nonionic detergents (C12E8 and dodecylmaltoside) were bound at seven to eight sites, many in common with those of dodecanoate. The compounds were also bound in the hydrophobic cavity of beta-lactoglobulin, but not to ovalbumin. In addition to the generally recognized role of the Sudlow binding region II of serum albumin (localized at the IIIA subdomain) in fatty acid binding, quenching of the fluorescence intensity of tryptophan-214 by 7,8-dibromododecylmaltoside and 12-bromododecanoate also implicate the Sudlow binding region I (subdomain IIA) as a locus for binding of aliphatic compounds. Our data document the usefulness of dodecyl amphipathic compounds as probes of hydrophobic cavities in water-soluble proteins. In conjunction with recent x-ray diffraction analyses of fatty acid binding as the starting point we propose a new symmetrical binding model for the location of nine high-affinity sites on serum albumin for aliphatic compounds.

Quantification of sodium dodecyl sulfate in microliter-volume biochemical samples by visible light spectroscopy

A method for sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) quantitation in microliter-volume complex biochemical samples is described. The quantitation is based on the use of a dye, stains-all, the color of which changes from intense fuchsia to yellow upon addition of SDS. We show that this color change is gradual and proportional to the amount of SDS added to the stains-all solution, thus allowing its use to reliably quantitate SDS in biochemical samples by means of a visible light spectrophotometer. A large number of compounds widely used in biochemistry are herein shown not to interfere with the SDS measurement when they are present in the sample at usual biochemical concentrations. Furthermore, linearity between the color change and the amount of SDS present in the sample is never impaired when huge amounts of these compounds are also present, thus making this quantitation method highly reliable with use of a calibration curve. The method allows easy and reliable quantitation of microgram amounts of SDS in microliter-volume biochemical samples.

Use of amphipathic polymers to deliver a membrane protein to lipid bilayers

Data are presented which suggest that a class of amphiphilic polymers known as 'amphipols' may serve as a vehicle for delivering complex integral membrane proteins into membranes. The integral membrane protein diacylglycerol kinase (DAGK) was maintained in soluble form by either of two different amphipols. Small aliquots of these solutions were added to pre-formed lipid vesicles and the appearance of DAGK catalytic activity was monitored as an indicator of the progress of productive protein insertion into the bilayers. For one of the two amphipols tested, DAGK was observed to productively transfer from its amphipol complex into vesicles with moderate efficiency. Results were not completely clear for the other amphipol.

Use of Octyl β-Thioglucopyranoside in Two-Dimensional Crystallization of Membrane Proteins

A great interest exists in producing and/or improving two-dimensional (2D) crystals of membrane proteins amenable to structural analysis by electron crystallography. Here we report on the use of the detergent n-octyl beta-d-thioglucopyranoside in 2D crystallization trials of membrane proteins with radically different structures including FhuA from the outer membrane of Escherichia coli, light-harvesting complex II from Rubrivivax gelatinosus, and Photosystem I from cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. We have analyzed by electron microscopy the structures reconstituted after detergent removal from lipid-detergent or lipid-protein-detergent micellar solutions containing either only n-octyl beta-d-thioglucopyranoside or n-octyl beta-d-thioglucopyranoside in combination with other detergents commonly used in membrane protein biochemistry. This allowed the definition of experimental conditions in which the use of n-octyl beta-d-thioglucopyranoside could induce a considerable increase in the size of reconstituted membrane structures, up to several micrometers. An other important feature was that, in addition to reconstitution of membrane proteins into large bilayered structures, this thioglycosylated detergent also was revealed to be efficient in crystallization trials, allowing the proteins to be analyzed in large coherent two-dimensional arrays. Thus, inclusion of n-octyl beta-d-thioglucopyranoside in 2D crystallization trials appears to be a promising method for the production of large and coherent 2D crystals that will be valuable for structural analysis by electron crystallography and atomic force microscopy.

Use of detergents in two-dimensional crystallization of membrane proteins

Structure determination at high resolution is actually a difficult challenge for membrane proteins and the number of membrane proteins that have been crystallized is still small and far behind that of soluble proteins. Because of their amphiphilic character, membrane proteins need to be isolated, purified and crystallized in detergent solutions. This makes it difficult to grow the well-ordered three-dimensional crystals that are required for high resolution structure analysis by X-ray crystallography. In this difficult context, growing crystals confined to two dimensions (2D crystals) and their structural analysis by electron crystallography has opened a new way to solve the structure of membrane proteins. However, 2D crystallization is one of the major bottlenecks in the structural studies of membrane proteins. Advances in our understanding of the interaction between proteins, lipids and detergents as well as development and improvement of new strategies will facilitate the success rate of 2D crystallization. This review deals with the various available strategies for obtaining 2D crystals from detergent-solubilized intrinsic membrane proteins. It gives an overview of the methods that have been applied and gives details and suggestions of the physical processes leading to the formation of the ordered arrays which may be of help for getting more proteins crystallized in a form suitable for high resolution structural analysis by electron crystallography.