Native Mass Spectrometry Characterizes the Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex from the Purple Bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

ABSTRACT: Native mass spectrometry (MS) is an emerging approach to study protein complexes in their near-native states and to elucidate their stoichiometry and topology. Here, we report a native MS study of the membrane-embedded reaction center (RC) protein complex from the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The membrane-embedded RC protein complex is stabilized by detergent micelles in aqueous solution, directly introduced into a mass spectrometer by nano-electrospray (nESI), and freed of detergents and dissociated in the gas phase by collisional activation. As the collision energy is increased, the chlorophyll pigments are gradually released from the RC complex, suggesting that native MS introduces a near-native structure that continues to bind pigments. Two bacteriochlorophy

SUBMITTER: Zhang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5613939 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature