title: Micellar and biochemical properties of a propyl-ended fluorinated surfactant designed for membrane-protein study.
abstract: Our goal is to design optimised fluorinated surfactants for handling membrane proteins in solution. We report herein the self-assembling and biochemical properties of a new hemifluorinated surfactant (H3F6H3DigluM) with a branched diglucosylated polar head group and an apolar tail consisting of a perfluorohexane core decorated with a hydrogenated propyl tip. For the sake of comparison, its fluorinated analogue without propyl tip (F6H3DigluM) was also studied. Isothermal titration calorimetry and surface tension showed that the addition of a propyl tip has a significant effect on the overall hydrophobicity of the surfactant, in contrast to the behaviour described when adding an ethyl tip to a fluorinated surfactant. From dynamic light scattering, analytical ultracentrifugation and small-angle X-ray scattering, both H3F6H3DigluM and F6H3DigluM self-assemble into small globular micelles of 5-7 nm in diameter and have aggregation numbers of 62±8 and 46±2, respectively. Finally, H3F6H3DigluM was found to be the best fluorinated surfactant developed in our group to stabilise the model membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR) in aqueous solution. This study demonstrates the suitability of this new propyl-ended fluorinated surfactant for biochemical and structural applications and confirms the superiority of hemifluorinated chains over fluorinated ones.
authors.affiliation: Université d'Avignon, 33 rue Louis Pasteur, F-84000 Avignon, France; Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (UMR 5247), 15 avenue Charles Flahault, F-34093 Montpellier Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Maher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abla
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biophysics, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Str. 13, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biophysics, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Str. 13, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.affiliation: Université d'Avignon, 33 rue Louis Pasteur, F-84000 Avignon, France; Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (UMR 5247), 15 avenue Charles Flahault, F-34093 Montpellier Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonneté
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, IBS, F-38044 Grenoble, France; CNRS, IBS, F-38044 Grenoble, France; CEA, IBS, F-38044 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ebel
authors.affiliation: Université d'Avignon, 33 rue Louis Pasteur, F-84000 Avignon, France; Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (UMR 5247), 15 avenue Charles Flahault, F-34093 Montpellier Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pucci
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, IBS, F-38044 Grenoble, France; CNRS, IBS, F-38044 Grenoble, France; CEA, IBS, F-38044 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Breyton
authors.affiliation: Université d'Avignon, 33 rue Louis Pasteur, F-84000 Avignon, France; Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (UMR 5247), 15 avenue Charles Flahault, F-34093 Montpellier Cedex 05, France. Electronic address: gregory.durand@univ-avignon.fr.
authors.forename: Grégory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Durand
mesh_terms: D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D005960:Glucosides / Q000737:chemistry*; D054879:Halogenation; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D008823:Micelles; D055550:Protein Stability; D012996:Solutions; D013500:Surface Tension; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D005466:Fluorocarbons; D005960:Glucosides; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008823:Micelles; D012996:Solutions; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C078626:perflexane
keywords: Fluorinated surfactants; Membrane proteins; Micelles; Protein stability