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Biophysical studies of membrane proteins/peptides. Interaction with ...

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the tilt angle, and maintain a larger section <strong>of</strong> the hydrophobic domain inside the bilayer<br />

(Figure I.16). When the bilayer thickness is larger than the protein hydrophobic domain,<br />

the TM protein might find that compensation by change <strong>of</strong> tilt angle is not possible or it<br />

is insufficient, and the only route available to decrease exposure <strong>of</strong> hydrophobic<br />

aminoacid side-chains is aggregation. Recently, mcp was shown to change its tilt angle<br />

when incorporated in bilayers <strong>with</strong> different hydrophobic thickness (Koehorst et al.,<br />

2004).<br />

Results obtained for fluorescence self-quenching <strong>of</strong> BODIPY labelled mcp<br />

incorporated in binary lipid mixtures composed by lipids <strong>with</strong> different acyl-chain<br />

lengths are dramatically different from the results obtained <strong>with</strong> pure lipids. The<br />

apparent diffusion coefficients retrieved from the analysis <strong>of</strong> this data are clearly not<br />

justified on the basis <strong>of</strong> normal diffusion <strong>of</strong> monomeric species (as it was for mcp in<br />

DOPC), or on the basis <strong>of</strong> protein oligomerization/aggregation (as it as for mcp in<br />

DMoPC and in DEuPC). In this case, only segregation <strong>of</strong> mcp into domains enriched in<br />

the hydrophobically matching lipid can provide rationalization <strong>of</strong> the data. This<br />

hypothesis is confirmed by FRET <strong>studies</strong> that are also consistent <strong>with</strong> mcp segregation<br />

in the presence <strong>of</strong> binary mixtures <strong>of</strong> lipids <strong>with</strong> different acyl-chains. Importantly, the<br />

lipid components used in the binary mixtures are not dramatically different, the only<br />

difference being the presence <strong>of</strong> 4 additional carbons in the acyl-chain <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the<br />

lipids. This difference is not expected to result in large scale phase separation <strong>of</strong> the<br />

lipid components such as it was detected in the FRET <strong>studies</strong> (domain size larger than<br />

or comparable to the Förster radius <strong>of</strong> AEDANS-BODIPY, 48.8 Å). In this way,<br />

formation <strong>of</strong> large domains enriched in the hydrophobically matching lipid must be a<br />

consequence <strong>of</strong> incorporation <strong>of</strong> mcp. Nevertheless, experiments making use <strong>of</strong> the<br />

properties <strong>of</strong> 1,6-diphenylhexatriene, indicate that even in the absence <strong>of</strong> protein, short<br />

scale clustering <strong>of</strong> the lipids in the binary mixtures is expected to occur.<br />

The same type <strong>of</strong> segregation <strong>of</strong> mcp was not detected when the acyl-chains’ lengths<br />

<strong>of</strong> the lipid components in the binary mixtures were identical and the only difference<br />

resides in the headgroups, confirming the crucial relevance <strong>of</strong> hydrophobic matching for<br />

protein organization.<br />

Concerning the quantification <strong>of</strong> the lipid selectivity <strong>of</strong> mcp, FRET proved to be a<br />

valuable tool, and an important alternative to ESR in these type <strong>of</strong> <strong>studies</strong>. FRET was<br />

able to detect lipid enrichment around monomeric mcp in a binary lipid mixture, while<br />

ESR was unable to resolve this problem (Sanders et al., 1992). Relative association<br />

182

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