-
Anthony G Lee
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Are lipid interactions with membrane proteins best described in terms of the physical properties of the lipid bilayer or in terms of direct molecular interactions between particular lipid molecules and particular sites on a protein? A molecular interpretation is more challenging because it requires detailed knowledge of the 3D structure of a membrane protein, but recent studies have suggested that a molecular interpretation is necessary. Here, the idea is explored that lipid molecules modify the ways that transmembrane α-helices pack into bundles, by penetrating between the helices and by binding into clefts between the helices, and that these effects on helix packing will modulate the activity of a membrane protein.
Trends in Biochemical Sciences 08/2011; 36(9):493-500. · 10.85 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident proteins may be maintained in the ER by retention, where the leak into post-ER compartments is absent or slow, or retrieval, where a significant leak is countered by retrieval from post-ER compartments. Here the targeting of the C-terminally anchored protein ER-resident protein, cytochrome b5a (cytb5a), considered to be maintained in the ER mainly by the process of retention, is compared with that of sarcolipin (SLN) and phospholamban (PLB); also C-terminally anchored ER-residents. Laser confocal microscopy, and cell fractionation of green fluorescent protein-tagged constructs expressed in COS 7 cells indicate that while calnexin appears to be retained in the ER with no evidence of leak into the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC), significant amounts of cytb5a, SLN, and PLB are detectable in the ERGIC, indicating that there is considerable leak from the ER. This is supported by an in vitro budding assay that shows that while small amounts of calnexin appear in the transport vesicles budding off from the ER, significant amounts of cytb5a and SLN are found in such vesicles. These data support the hypothesis that retrieval plays a major role in ensuring that C-terminally anchored proteins are maintained in the ER.
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 07/2011; 112(12):3543-8. · 2.87 Impact Factor
-
Anthony G Lee
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Intrinsic membrane proteins are solvated by a shell of lipid molecules interacting with the membrane-penetrating surface of the protein; these lipid molecules are referred to as annular lipids. Lipid molecules are also found bound between transmembrane α-helices; these are referred to as non-annular lipids. Annular lipid binding constants depend on fatty acyl chain length, but the dependence is less than expected from models based on distortion of the lipid bilayer alone. This suggests that hydrophobic matching between a membrane protein and the surrounding lipid bilayer involves some distortion of the transmembrane α-helical bundle found in most membrane proteins, explaining the importance of bilayer thickness for membrane protein function. Annular lipid binding constants also depend on the structure of the polar headgroup region of the lipid, and hotspots for binding anionic lipids have been detected on some membrane proteins; binding of anionic lipid molecules to these hotspots can be functionally important. Binding of anionic lipids to non-annular sites on membrane proteins such as the potassium channel KcsA can also be important for function. It is argued that the packing preferences of the membrane-spanning α-helices in a membrane protein result in a structure that matches nicely with that of the surrounding lipid bilayer, so that lipid and protein can meet without either having to change very much.
Biochemical Society Transactions 06/2011; 39(3):761-6. · 3.71 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: A number of studies using chimeric constructs made by fusing endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump (SERCA) sequences with those of the plasma membrane located calcium pump (PMCA) have suggested that the retention/retrieval signal responsible for maintaining SERCA in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is located within the N-terminus of these pumps. Because of the difficulties in identifying the presence of constructs at the plasma membrane we have used a trans-Golgi network (TGN) marker to evaluate whether chimeric proteins are retained by the ER or have lost their retention/retrieval sequences and are able to enter the wider endomembrane system and reach the TGN. In this study, attempts to locate this retention/retrieval sequence demonstrate that the retention sequences are located not in the N-terminus, as previously suggested, but in the largely transmembranous C-terminal domain of SERCA. Further attempts to identify the precise retention/retrieval motif using SERCA1/PMCA3 chimeras were unsuccessful. This may be due to the fact that introducing SERCA1 sequences into the C-terminal PMCA3 sequence and vice versa disrupts the organization of the closely packed transmembrane helices leading to retention of such constructs by the quality control mechanisms of the ER. An alternative explanation is that SERCAs have targeting motifs that are non-linear, being made up of several segments of sequence to form a patch that interacts with the retrieval machinery.
Molecular Membrane Biology 04/2011; 28(4):216-26. · 2.86 Impact Factor
-
Anthony G Lee
Molecular Membrane Biology 04/2010; 27(2-3):145. · 2.86 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The mechanosensitive channel of large conductance MscL from Escherichia coli has been reconstituted into sealed vesicles, and the effects of lipid structure on the flux of the fluorescent molecule calcein through the open channel have been studied. The channel was opened by reaction of the G22C mutant of MscL with the reagent [2-(triethylammonium)ethyl]methanethiosulfonate (MTSET) which introduces five positive charges within the pore constriction. Flux through the channel was small when the lipid was phosphatidylcholine, but addition of the anionic lipids phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidic acid, or cardiolipin up to 50 mol % resulted in increases in the amplitudes and rates of release of calcein. Similar effects were seen when either wild-type MscL or the G22C mutant was opened by osmotic pressure difference; rates of release of calcein were very slow in the absence of anionic lipid but increased with increasing concentrations of phosphatidylglycerol to 50 mol %. The observed partial release of trapped calcein following activation of MscL was attributed to the formation of a long-lived subconductance state of MscL following channel opening. Effects of anionic lipid were attributed to an increase in the rate of the transition from closed to fully open state and to a decrease in the rate of the transition from the fully open state to the subconductance state. Higher concentrations of anionic lipid led to a decrease in the rate and amplitude of release of calcein, possibly due to a decreased rate of flux through the open channel. In mixtures with anionic lipids, phosphatidylethanolamine resulted in lower rates and amplitude of release than phosphatidylcholine.
Biochemistry 05/2008; 47(14):4317-28. · 3.42 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: In addition to the annular or boundary lipids that surround the transmembrane surface of the potassium channel KcsA from Streptomyces lividans, x-ray crystallographic studies have detected one anionic lipid molecule bound at each protein-protein interface in the homotetrameric structure, at sites referred to as nonannular sites. The binding constant for phosphatidylglycerol at the nonannular sites has been determined using fluorescence quenching methods with a mutant of KcsA lacking the normal three lipid-exposed Trp residues. Binding is weak, with a binding constant of 0.42 +/- 0.06 in units of mol fraction, implying that the nonannular sites will only be approximately 70% occupied in bilayers of 100% phosphatidylglycerol. However, the nonannular sites show high selectivity for anionic lipids over zwitterionic lipids, and it is suggested that a change in packing at the protein-protein interface leads to a closing of the nonannular binding site in the unbound state. Increasing the anionic lipid content of the membrane leads to a large increase in open channel probability, from approximately 2.5% in the presence of 25 mol % phosphatidylglycerol to approximately 62% in 100 mol % phosphatidylglycerol. The relationship between open channel probability and phosphatidylglycerol content shows cooperativity. The data are consistent with a model in which three or four of the four nonannular sites in the KcsA homotetramer have to be occupied by anionic lipid for the channel to open. The conductance of the open channel increases with increasing concentration of anionic lipid, an effect possibly due to effects of anionic lipid on the concentration of K(+) close to the membrane surface.
Biophysical Journal 04/2008; 94(5):1689-98. · 3.65 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Hydropathy plots have problems in identifying the sequences of transmembrane (TM) alpha-helices when they contain charged residues. Here we show that fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to define the ends of TM alpha-helices. Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) from Escherichia coli contains three transmembrane (TM) alpha-helices per monomer. We have used fluorescence techniques to define the region of the putative first TM helix (TM1) that spans the hydrophobic core of the lipid bilayer surrounding DGK in reconstituted membranes. Single Cys mutants were introduced into TM1 and flanking sites, in a mutant of DGK lacking the two native Cys residues. Introduction of Cys residues into the region between residues 28 and 34 resulted in mutants with low activities, due to a combination of reduced affinities for ATP and diacylglycerol and a reduced maximum rate. Cross-linking experiments showed that the low-activity mutants were present largely in the normal, trimeric form after reconstitution. Fluorescence emission maxima for the Cys mutants labeled with N-((2-(iodoacetoxy)ethyl)-N-methyl)amino-7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (IANBD) reconstituted into bilayers of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine varied with position, suggesting that the region of TM1 spanning the hydrophobic core of the bilayer runs from Glu-28 on the cytoplasmic side to Asp-49 or Val-50 on the periplasmic side. This locates the charged/polar cluster 32RQE34 within the hydrophobic core of the bilayer. Fluorescence quenching experiments agree with this assignment for TM1, the results showing a periodicity consistent with distinct stripes of amino acid residues along the length of the helix, the stripes facing the lipid bilayer and facing the rest of the protein, respectively. The residues located close to the glycerol backbone region of the bilayer remained the same when the lipid fatty acyl chain length was changed in the range C14 to C22, showing that hydrophobic matching between the protein and the surrounding lipid bilayer is highly efficient.
Biochemistry 10/2007; 46(38):10950-9. · 3.42 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The study and the exploitation of membrane proteins for drug screening applications requires a controllable and reliable method for their delivery into an artificial suspended membrane platform based on lab-on-a-chip technology. In this work, a polymeric device for forming lipid bilayers suitable for electrophysiology studies and biosensor applications is presented. The chip supports a single bilayer and is configured for controlled protein delivery through on-chip microfluidics. In order to demonstrate the principle of protein delivery, the potassium channel KcsA was reconstituted into proteoliposomes, which were then fused with the suspended bilayer on-chip. Fusion of single proteoliposomes with the membrane was identified electrically. Single channel conductance measurements of KcsA in the on-chip bilayer were recorded and these were compared to previously published data obtained with a conventional planar bilayer system.
Lab on a Chip 10/2007; 7(9):1176-83. · 5.67 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Quenching of the fluorescence of Trp residues in a membrane protein by lipids with bromine-containing fatty acyl chains provides a powerful technique for measuring lipid-protein binding constants. Single Trp residues have been placed on the periplasmic and cytoplasmic sides of the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance MscL from Mycobacterium tuberculosis to measure, separately, lipid binding constants on the two faces of MscL. The chain-length dependence of lipid binding was found to be different on the two sides of MscL, the chain-length dependence being more marked on the cytoplasmic than on the periplasmic side. To determine if lipid binding constants are affected by the properties of the lipid molecules not in direct contact with MscL (the bulk lipid), the amount of bulk lipid present in the system was varied. The binding constant of the short-chain phospholipid didodecylphosphatidylcholine was found to be independent of the molar ratio of lipid/MscL pentamer over the range 500:1-50:1, suggesting that lipid binding constants are determined largely by the properties of the lipid molecules interacting directly with MscL. These results point to a model in which lipid molecules located on the transmembrane surface of a membrane protein (the annular lipid molecules), by playing a dominant role in the interaction between a membrane protein and the surrounding lipid bilayer, could effectively buffer the membrane protein from changes in the properties of the bulk lipid bilayer.
Biophysical Journal 08/2007; 93(1):113-22. · 3.65 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The transmembrane surface of a multi-helix membrane protein will be rough with cavities of various sizes between the transmembrane alpha-helices. Efficient solvation of the surface by the lipid molecules that surround the protein in a membrane requires that the lipid fatty acyl chains be able to enter the cavities. This possibility has been investigated using fluorescence quenching methods. Trp residues have been introduced into lipid-facing sites in the first transmembrane alpha-helix (M1) of the mechanosensitive channel of large-conductance MscL; lipid-facing residues at the N-terminal end of M1 are buried below the transmembrane surface of the protein. Fluorescence emission maxima for lipid-facing Trp residues in M1 vary with position in the bilayer comparably to those for Trp residues in the second transmembrane alpha-helix (M2) despite the fact that lipid-facing residues in M2 are on the surface of the protein. Fluorescence emission spectra for most Trp residues on the periplasmic sides of M1 and M2 fit well to a model proposing a trough-like variation of dielectric constant across the membrane, but the relationship between location and fluorescence emission maximum on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane is more complex. The fluorescence of Trp residues in M1 is quenched efficiently by phospholipids with bromine-containing fatty acyl chains, showing that the lipid chains must be able to enter the Trp-containing cavities on the surface of MscL, resulting in efficient solvation of the surface.
Biophysical Journal 06/2007; 92(10):3556-63. · 3.65 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Phospholamban and sarcolipin are small transmembrane proteins that modulate cardiac contractility through their interaction with the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium pumps (SERCAs). We have examined the hypothesis that phospholamban and sarcolipin are maintained in the SR by a process of retrieval from post-SR compartments and the role of their transmembrane domains in targeting.
Antibodies directed against phospholamban and protein markers of the endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) and the trans-Golgi were used in fluorescence microscopy studies of cultured human fetal cardiac myocytes. In addition, sarcolipin and phospholamban were tagged at the N-terminus with enhanced-green-fluorescent protein (EGFP) and expressed in COS 7 cells. The EGFP-tagged constructs were localised using fluorescence microscopy and cell fractionation. The length of the transmembrane domains of phospholamban and sarcolipin were extended and the effect on cellular location was also examined.
In fetal cardiac myocytes phospholamban was located in the SR and the ERGIC, but did not migrate to the trans-Golgi network. Tagged-phospholamban and sarcolipin were located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of COS 7 cells indicating that their targeting was unaffected by the EGFP tag. Significant proportions of the tagged phospholamban and sarcolipin were also located in the ERGIC but not in the trans-Golgi. Increasing the length of the transmembranous domains of EGFP-tagged phospholamban and sarcolipin resulted in their mis-targeting to the plasma membrane.
Phospholamban and sarcolipin are maintained in the SR/ER by a process that includes their retrieval from the ERGIC following their passage from the SR/ER into the ERGIC. The transmembrane domains of phospholamban and sarcolipin are involved in the retrieval process.
Cardiovascular Research 05/2007; 74(1):114-23. · 6.06 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum of large mammals such as rabbit contains sarcolipin (SLN), a small peptide with a single transmembrane alpha-helix. When reconstituted with the Ca(2+)-ATPase from skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum into sealed vesicles, the presence of SLN leads to a reduced level of accumulation of Ca(2+). Heats of reaction of the reconstituted Ca(2+)-ATPase with ATP were measured using isothermal calorimetry. The heat released increased linearly with time over 30 min and increased with increasing SLN content. Rates ATP hydrolysis by the reconstituted Ca(2+)-ATPase were constant over a 30-min time period and were the same when measured in the presence or absence of an ATP-regenerating system. The calculated values of heat released per mol of ATP hydrolyzed increased with increasing SLN content and fitted to a simple binding equation with a dissociation constant for the SLN.ATPase complex of 6.9 x 10(-4) +/- 2.9 x 10(-4) in units of mol fraction per monolayer. It is suggested that the interaction between Ca(2+)-ATPase and SLN in the sarcoplasmic reticulum could be important in thermogenesis by the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
Journal of Biological Chemistry 01/2007; 281(48):36597-602. · 4.77 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This unit describes how fluorescence quenching methods can be used to determine binding constants for phospholipids binding to intrinsic membrane proteins. Reconstitution of a Trp-containing intrinsic membrane protein with bromine-containing phospholipids leads to quenching of the Trp fluorescence of the protein; the extent of quenching depends on the strength of binding of the phospholipid to the protein. Protocols are included for the synthesis of bromine-containing phospholipids from phospholipids containing carbon-carbon double bonds in their fatty acyl chains and for the reconstitution of membrane proteins into bilayers containing bromine-containing phospholipids. Details are included on data analysis, including equations and software that can be used for fitting the fluorescence quenching data.
Current protocols in protein science / editorial board, John E. Coligan ... [et al.] 10/2006; Chapter 19:Unit 19.12.
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Many insecticides (e.g. DDT, lindane, pyrethroids) are hydrophobic molecules which bind extensively to biological membranes. Binding of insecticides to phospholipid bilayers frequently shows saturation, with binding increasing with increasing insecticide concentration up to some limit, beyond which no further insecticide is incorporated into the bilayer. For lindane, this limit has been shown to correspond to the concentration at which the aqueous phase becomes saturated. Simple alkanes show similar saturation phenomena, and binding of halogenated alkanes can be followed by fluorescence quenching methods. It is shown that effects of hydrophobic molecules on bilayer fluidity are small. Effects of alkanes and insecticides on the activity of the (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase purified from sarcoplasmic reticulum follow from direct binding to the ATPase, at sites which are not at the lipid-protein interface of the ATPase.
Pesticide Science 04/2006; 32(3):317 - 327.
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Lipid binding to the potassium channel KcsA from Streptomyces lividans has been studied using quenching of the fluorescence of Trp residues by brominated phospholipids. It is shown that binding of phospholipids to nonannular lipid binding sites on KcsA, located one each at the four protein-protein interfaces in the tetrameric structure, is specific for anionic phospholipids, zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine being unable to bind at the sites. The binding constant for phosphatidylglycerol of 3.0 +/- 0.7 mol fraction(-1) means that in a membrane containing approximately 20 mol% phosphatidylglycerol, as in the Escherichia coli inner membrane, the nonannular sites will be approximately 37% occupied by phosphatidylglycerol. The binding constant for phosphatidic acid is similar to that for phosphatidylglycerol but binding constants for phosphatidylserine and cardiolipin are about double those for phosphatidylglycerol. Binding to annular sites around the circumference of the KcsA tetramer are different on the extracellular and intracellular faces of the membrane. On the extracellular face of the membrane the binding constants for anionic lipids are similar to those for phosphatidylcholine, the lack of specificity being consistent with the lack of any marked clusters of charged residues on KcsA close to the membrane on the extracellular side. In contrast, binding to annular sites on the intracellular side of the membrane shows a distinct structural specificity, with binding of phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylglycerol being stronger than binding of phosphatidylcholine, whereas binding constants for phosphatidylserine and cardiolipin are similar to that for phosphatidylcholine. It is suggested that this pattern of binding follows from the pattern of charge distribution on KcsA on the intracellular side of the membrane.
Biophysical Journal 01/2006; 89(6):4081-9. · 3.65 Impact Factor
-
Anthony G Lee
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Membrane proteins in a biological membrane are surrounded by a shell or annulus of 'solvent' lipid molecules. These lipid molecules in general interact rather non-specifically with the protein molecules, although a few 'hot-spots' may be present on the protein where anionic lipids bind with high affinity. Because of the low structural specificity of most of the annular sites, the composition of the lipid annulus will be rather similar to the bulk lipid composition of the membrane. The structures of the solvent lipid molecules are important in determining the conformational state of a membrane protein, and hence its activity, through charge and hydrogen bonding interactions between the lipid headgroups and residues in the protein, and through hydrophobic matching between the protein and the surrounding lipid bilayer. Evidence is also accumulating for the presence of 'co-factor' lipid molecules binding with high specificity to membrane proteins, often between transmembrane alpha-helices, and often being essential for activity.
Molecular BioSystems 10/2005; 1(3):203-12. · 3.53 Impact Factor
-
Anthony G Lee
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: How are lipid molecules sorted between organelles in eukaryotic cells? A recent paper shows that the work needed to bend a membrane and form a vesicle is sufficient to sort lipid molecules.
Current Biology 07/2005; 15(11):R421-3. · 9.65 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We have introduced single Trp residues into the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and used fluorescence quenching by brominated phospholipids to detect the presence of a binding site of high affinity for anionic phospholipids. A cluster of three positively charged residues, Arg-98, Lys-99, and Lys-100, is located on the cytoplasmic side of MscL, in a position where they could interact with the headgroup of an anionic phospholipid. Single mutations of these charged residues in the Trp-containing mutant F80W results in a decreased affinity for phosphatidic acid. Single mutations of the charged residues also result in a significant shift in the fluorescence emission spectrum in dioleoylphosphatidylcholine [di(C18:1)PC] but smaller shifts in dioleoylphosphatidic acid [di(C18:1)PA], suggesting that single mutations result in a conformational change for the protein that is reversed by interaction with anionic phospholipids. This is consistent with the observation that single mutations of the charged residues do not result in a gain of function phenotype. In contrast, simultaneous mutation of all three charged residues results in a gain of function phenotype, and a shift in fluorescence emission spectrum in di(C18:1)PC not reversed in di(C18:1)PA. The gain of function mutant F80W:V21K also shows a shifted fluorescence emission spectrum in both di(C18:1)PC and di(C18:1)PA and binds di(C18:1)PC and di(C18:1)PA with equal affinity, suggesting that the conformational change caused by the V21K mutation results in a breakup of the cluster of three positive charges. Experiments with the Trp mutants L69W and Y87W allow us to measure lipid binding constants on the periplasmic and cytoplasmic sides of the membrane, respectively. On both sides of the membrane the affinity for di(C18:1)PC is equal to that for dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine. On the periplasmic side of the membrane, there is no selectivity for anionic phospholipids. In contrast, quenching data for Y87W provides evidence for the existence of two lipid binding sites on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane close to the Trp residue at position 87, with binding to one of these sites showing a marked preference for anionic lipid over zwitterionic lipid, presumably involving the charged cluster Arg-98, Lys-99, and Lys-100.
Biochemistry 05/2005; 44(15):5873-83. · 3.42 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The hydrophobic thickness of a membrane protein is an important parameter, defining how the protein sits within the hydrocarbon core of the lipid bilayer that surrounds it in a membrane. Here we show that Trp scanning mutagenesis combined with fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to define the hydrophobic thickness of a membrane protein. The mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) contains two transmembrane alpha-helices, of which the second (TM2) is lipid-exposed. The region of TM2 that spans the hydrocarbon core of the bilayer when MscL is reconstituted into bilayers of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine runs from Leu-69 to Leu-92, giving a hydrophobic thickness of ca. 25 A. The results obtained using Trp scanning mutagenesis were confirmed using Cys residues labeled with the N-methyl-amino-7-nitroben-2-oxa-1,3-diazole [NBD] group; both fluorescence emission maxima and fluorescence lifetimes for the NBD group are sensitive to solvent dielectric constant over the range (2-40) thought to span the lipid headgroup region of a lipid bilayer. Changing phospholipid fatty acyl chain lengths from C14 and C24 results in no significant change for the fluorescence of the interfacial residues, suggesting very efficient hydrophobic matching between the protein and the surrounding lipid bilayer.
Biochemistry 05/2005; 44(15):5713-21. · 3.42 Impact Factor
