title: Heavy metal derivatives of membrane proteins: selective mercurilation of bacteriorhodopsin.
abstract: A method is described for the selective introduction of heavy atoms into structured membrane proteins by a two step modification. The procedure is applied for the purple membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin. Selective heavy-atom modification of this protein is achieved by placing a mercury reagent of intermediate polarity into phenylthiocarbamoylated bacteriorhodopsin. Incorporation of mercury requires the selective phenylthiocarbamoylation of a lysine residue. Optical investigations including circular dichroism document unchanged chromophore-protein and protein-protein interactions in mercury labeled purple membranes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, University of Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sigrist
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kislig
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rottenberg
mesh_terms: D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D017879:Isothiocyanates; D008027:Light; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008628:Mercury; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013861:Thiocyanates
chemical_list: D017879:Isothiocyanates; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D013861:Thiocyanates; C005441:phenylisothiocyanate; D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins; D008628:Mercury