title: The effect of temperature and lipid on the conformational transition of gramicidin A in lipid vesicles.
abstract: The present study investigated the effect of temperature and lipid/peptide molar ratio on the conformational changes of the membrane peptide gramicidin A from a double-stranded helix to a single-stranded helical dimmer in 1,2-dimyristoyl-glycerol-3-phosphochloine (DMPC) vesicles. Tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy results suggested that the conformational transition fitted a three-state (two-step) "folding" model. Rate constants, k(1) and k(2), were determined for each of the two steps. Since k(1) and k(2) increased with an increase in temperature, we hypothesized that the process corresponded to the breakage and formation of the backbone hydrogen bonds. The k(1) was from 10 to 45 folds faster than k(2), except for lipid/peptide molar ratios above 89.21, where k(2) increased rapidly. At molar ratios below 89.21, k(2) was insensitive to changes in lipid concentration. To account for this phenomenon, we proposed that while the driving interaction at high molar ratios is between the indole rings of the tryptophan residues and the lipid head groups, at low molar ratios there may be an intermolecular interaction between the tryptophan residues that causes gramicidin A to form an organized aggregated network. This aggregated network, caused by the tryptophan-tryptophan interaction, may be the main effect responsible for the slow down of the conformation change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Research & Education, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, and Institute of Biochemistry, National Yang-Ming University, Shih-Pai, Taipei 11217, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Ta-Hsien
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Hsien-bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: H-A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: S-H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Shiao
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry; D006096:Gramicidin / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D006096:Gramicidin; D014364:Tryptophan; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine