Hydration dependence of active core fluctuations in bacteriorhodopsin.

ABSTRACT: We used neutron scattering and specific hydrogen-deuterium labeling to investigate the thermal dynamics of isotope-labeled amino acids and retinal, predominantly in the active core and extracellular moiety of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) in the purple membrane and the dynamical response to hydration. Measurements on two neutron spectrometers allowed two populations of motions to be characterized. The lower amplitude motions were found to be the same for both the labeled amino acids and retinal of BR and the global membrane. The larger amplitude dynamics of the labeled part, however, were found to be more resilient than the average membrane, suggesting their functional importance. The response to hydration was characterized, showing that the labeled part of BR is not shielded from hydration effec

SUBMITTER: Wood K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2426655 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature