title: Structure and dynamics of the M13 coat signal sequence in membranes by multidimensional high-resolution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy.
abstract: The polypeptide corresponding to the signal sequence of the M13 coat protein and the five N-terminal residues of the mature protein was prepared by solid-phase peptide synthesis with a 15N isotopic label at the alanine-12 position. Multidimensional solution NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling calculations indicate that this polypeptide assumes helical conformations between residues 5 and 20, in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate micelles. This is in good agreement with circular dichroism spectroscopic measurement, which shows an alpha-helix content of approximately 42%. The alpha-helix comprises an uninterrupted hydrophobic stretch of < or = 12 amino acids, which is generally believed to be too short for a stable transmembrane alignment in a biological bilayer. The monoexponential proton-deuterium exchange kinetics of this hydrophobic helical region is characterized by half-lives of 15-75 minutes (pH 4.2, 323 K). When the polypeptide is reconstituted into phospholipid bilayers, the broad anisotropy of the proton-decoupled 15N solid-state NMR spectroscopy indicates that the hydrophobic helix is immobilized close to the lipid bilayer surface at the time scale of 15N solid-state NMR spectroscopy (10(-4) seconds). By contrast, short correlation times, immediate hydrogen-deuterium exchange as well as nuclear Overhauser effect crosspeak analysis suggest that the N and C termini of this polypeptide exhibit a mobile random coil structure. The implications of these structural findings for possible mechanisms of membrane insertion and translocation as well as for membrane protein structure prediction algorithms are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Physiologie, Dortmund, Germany. bechinge@biochem.mpg.de
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bechinger
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017104:Bacteriophage M13 / Q000737:chemistry*; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009038:Motion; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals / Q000737:chemistry*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; C025668:coat protein, Bacteriophage M13