Single Liposome Measurements for the Study of Proton-Pumping Membrane Enzymes Using Electrochemistry and Fluorescent Microscopy

Proton-pumping enzymes of electron transfer chains couple redox reactions to proton translocation across the membrane, creating a proton-motive force used for ATP production. The amphiphilic nature of membrane proteins requires particular attention to their handling, and reconstitution into the natural lipid environment is indispensable when studying membrane transport processes like proton translocation. Here, we detail a method that has been used for the investigation of the proton-pumping mechanism of membrane redox enzymes, taking cytochrome bo3 from Escherichia coli as an example. A combination of electrochemistry and fluorescence microscopy is used to control the redox state of the quinone pool and monitor pH changes in the lumen. Due to the spatial resolution of fluorescent microscopy, hundreds of liposomes can be measured simultaneously while the enzyme content can be scaled down to a single enzyme or transporter per liposome. The respective single enzyme analysis can reveal patterns in the enzyme functional dynamics that might be otherwise hidden by the behavior of the whole population. We include a description of a script for automated image analysis

Effects of membrane curvature and pH on proton pumping activity of single cytochrome bo3 enzymes

The molecular mechanism of proton pumping by heme-copper oxidases (HCO) has intrigued the scientific community since it was first proposed. We have recently reported a novel technology that enables the continuous characterisation of proton transport activity of a HCO and ubiquinol oxidase from Escherichia coli, cytochrome bo3, for hundreds of seconds on the single enzyme level (Li et al. J Am Chem Soc 137 (2015) 16055–16063). Here, we have extended these studies by additional experiments and analyses of the proton transfer rate as a function of proteoliposome size and pH at the N- and P-side of single HCOs. Proton transport activity of cytochrome bo3 was found to decrease with increased curvature of the membrane. Furthermore, proton uptake at the N-side (proton entrance) was insensitive to pH between pH 6.4–8.4, while proton release at the P-side had an optimum pH of 7.4, suggesting that the pH optimum is related to proton release from the proton exit site. Our previous single-enzyme experiments identified rare, long-lived conformation states of cytochrome bo3 where protons leak back under turn-over conditions. Here, we analyzed and found that 23% of cytochrome bo3 proteoliposomes show ΔpH half-lives below 50 s after stopping turnover, while only 5% of the proteoliposomes containing a non-pumping mutant, E286C cytochrome bo3 exhibit such fast decays. These single-enzyme results confirm our model in which HCO exhibit heterogeneous pumping rates and can adopt rare leak states in which protons are able to rapidly flow back

The effect of membrane curvature on the conformation of antimicrobial peptides: implications for binding and the mechanism of action

Short cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are believed to act either by inducing transmembrane pores or disrupting membranes in a detergent-like manner. For example, the antimicrobial peptides aurein 1.2, citropin 1.1, maculatin 1.1 and caerin 1.1, despite being closely related, appear to act by fundamentally different mechanisms depending on their length. Using molecular dynamics simulations, the structural properties of these four peptides have been examined in solution as well as in a variety of membrane environments. It is shown that each of the peptides has a strong preference for binding to regions of high membrane curvature and that the structure of the peptides is dependent on the degree of local curvature. This suggests that the shorter peptides aurein 1.2 and citropin 1.1 act via a detergent-like mechanism because they can induce high local, but not long-range curvature, whereas the longer peptides maculatin 1.1 and caerin 1.1 require longer range curvature to fold and thus bind to and stabilize transmembrane pores

Positional assembly of enzymes in polymersome nanoreactors for cascade reactions

\u3cp\u3eIn a good position: Nanoreactors can be constructed by the controlled positioning of glucose oxidase (GOX) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) within the central water pool and block-copolymer membrane of polymersomes. A one-pot multistep reaction sequence is performed with the nanoreactor in combination with free Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) in the bulk solution (see picture; ABTS: 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)). (Chemical Equation Presented)\u3c/p\u3

Assembly strategies for enzyme immobilization

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