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. 1982 Apr;38(1):85–87. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(82)84534-7

Effect of the removal of the COOH-terminal region of bacteriorhodopsin on its light-induced H+ changes.

R Govindjee, K Ohno, T G Ebrey
PMCID: PMC1328817  PMID: 7074203

Abstract

Removal of the COOH-terminal region of bacteriorhodopsin by digestion with trypsin or papain reduces the yield of light-induced H+ release by 50-70%. The rate of H+ release is not affected significantly, but the half time of H+ uptake increases almost twofold. However, there is no effect on the photocycle of bacteriorhodopsin as judged by the yield and decay kinetics of the M412 photointermediate. The H+:M ratio in enzyme-digested membranes is approximately 0.4-0.8, whereas untreated membranes have a H+:M ratio of approximately 2. Purple membrane sheets stored in distilled water at 4 degrees C for prolonged periods also have a low H+:M ratio, probably due to protease activity associated with bacterial contamination. Electrophoresis on sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gels showed that both the enzyme-treated and the stored purple membrane samples have a higher electrophoretic mobility compared to the fresh preparation. The reduction in molecular weight can be accounted for by the loss of several residues from the COOH-terminal portion of the bacteriorhodopsin. We propose that the COOH-terminal region is partially responsible for the high yield of H+ release by the purple membrane.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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