Structure, Dynamics, and Substrate Specificity of the OprO Porin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

ABSTRACT: The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria functions as a selective permeability barrier between cell and environment. For nutrient acquisition, the OM contains a number of channels that mediate uptake of small molecules by diffusion. Many of these channels are specific, i.e., they prefer certain substrates over others. In electrophysiological experiments, the OM channels OprP and OprO from Pseudomonas aeruginosa show a specificity for phosphate and diphosphate, respectively. In this study we use x-ray crystallography, free-energy molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and electrophysiology to uncover the atomic basis for the different substrate specificity of these highly similar channels. A structural analysis of OprP and OprO revealed two crucial differences in the central constric

SUBMITTER: Modi N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4601001 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature