Conformational change of bacteriorhodopsin quantitatively monitored by microcantilever sensors.

Abstract

Bacteriorhodopsin proteoliposomes were used as a model system to explore the applicability of micromechanical cantilever arrays to detect conformational changes in membrane protein patches. The three main results of our study concern: 1), reliable functionalization of micromechanical cantilever arrays with proteoliposomes using ink jet spotting; 2), successful detection of the prosthetic retinal removal (bleaching) from the bacteriorhodopsin protein by measuring the induced nanomechanical surface stress change; and 3), the quantitative response thereof, which depends linearly on the amount of removed retinal. Our results show this technique to be a potential tool to measure membrane protein-based receptor-ligand interactions and conformational changes.

• Authors: Thomas Braun, Natalija Backmann, Manuel Vögtli, Alexander Bietsch, Andreas Engel, Hans-Peter Lang, Christoph Gerber, Martin Hegner
• Journal: Biophysical journal (Biophys J) Vol. 90 Issue 8 Pg. 2970-7 (Apr 15 2006) ISSN: 0006-3495 [Print] United States
• PMID: 16443650 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Proteolipids
• proteoliposomes
• Bacteriorhodopsins
• Retinaldehyde

Topics

• Bacteriorhodopsins (chemistry)
• Biomechanical Phenomena
• Biosensing Techniques
• Microscopy, Atomic Force
• Nanotechnology
• Photobleaching
• Protein Array Analysis
• Protein Conformation
• Proteolipids (chemistry)
• Retinaldehyde (chemistry)