Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.134, No.41, 16995-16998, 2012
Paramagnetic Relaxation Enhancement Reveals Oligomerization Interface of a Membrane Protein
Protein-protein interactions play critical roles in cellular function and oligomerization of membrane proteins is a commonly observed phenomenon. Determining the oligomerization state and defining the intermolecular interface in the bilayer is generally a difficult task. Here, we use site-specific spin labeling to demonstrate that relaxation enhancements induced by covalently attached paramagnetic tag can provide distance restraints defining the intermonomer interface in oligomers formed by a seven-helical transmembrane protein Anabaena Sensory Rhodopsin (ASR). We combine these measurements with visible CD spectroscopy and cross-linking experiments to demonstrate that ASR forms tight trimers in both detergents and lipids.