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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 282, Issue 24, 17749-17757, June 15, 2007
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From the Laboratoire d'Ingeniérie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires, Institut de Biologie Structurale et Microbiologie, CNRS, UPR 9027, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France
The TolQRA proteins of Escherichia coli form an inner membrane complex involved in the maintenance of the outer membrane stability and in the late stages of cell division. The TolQR complex uses the proton-motive force to regulate TolA conformation and its interaction with the outer membrane Pal lipoprotein. It has been proposed that an ion channel forms at the TolQR transmembrane helix interface. This complex assembles with a minimal TolQ/TolR ratio of 4:2, therefore involving at least 14 transmembrane helices, which may form the ion pathway. The C-terminal periplasmic domain of TolR protein interacts with TolQ and has been proposed to control the TolQR channel activity. Here, we constructed unique cysteine substitutions in the last 27 residues of TolR. Each of the substitutions results in a functional TolR protein. Disulfide cross-linking demonstrates that the TolQR complex is dynamic, involving conformational modifications of TolR C-terminal domain. We monitored these structural changes by cysteine accessibility experiments and showed that the conformation of this domain is responsive to the proton-motive force and on the presence of critical residues of the ion pathway.
Received for publication, February 2, 2007 , and in revised form, April 3, 2007.
* The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 33-491-164-663; Fax: 33-491-712-124; E-mail: cascales{at}ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr.
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