Nonequivalence of the Nucleotide-Binding Subunits of an ABC Transporter, the Histidine Permease, and Conformational Changes in the Membrane Complex

Autor: Giovanna Ferro-Luzzi Ames, and Krisna P. Chai, David I. Kreimer
Rok vydání: 2000
Předmět:
Zdroj: Biochemistry. 39:14183-14195
ISSN: 1520-4995
0006-2960
DOI: 10.1021/bi001066+
Popis: The membrane-bound complex of the Salmonella typhimurium histidine permease, an ABC transporter (or traffic ATPase), is composed of two membrane proteins, HisQ and HisM, and two identical copies of an ATP-hydrolyzing protein, HisP. We have developed a technique that monitors quantitatively the sulfhydryl modification levels within the intact complex, and we have used it to investigate whether the HisP subunits behave identically within the complex. We show here that they interact differently with various thiol-specific reagents, thus indicating that, despite being identical, they are arranged asymmetrically. The possible basis of this asymmetry is discussed. We have also analyzed the occurrence of conformational changes during various stages of the activity cycle using thiol-specific reagents, fluorescence measurements, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. Cys-51, located close to the ATP-binding pocket, reflects conformational changes upon binding of ATP but does not participate in changes involved in si...
Databáze: OpenAIRE