Melittin-Regenerated Purple Membrane

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Yue Zhang, Tao Su, and Kun-sheng Hu^*

Institute of Biophysics, Academia Sinica, 15 Datun Road, Beijing 100101, P. R. China; fax: +86-10-6487-7837; E-mail: huks@sun5.ibp.ac.cn

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received December 17, 2008; Revision received March 16, 2009

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We have investigated the character of melittin-regenerated purple membrane. Adding melittin to blue membrane causes the color transition and partial regeneration of the photocycle and the proton pump. The reconstitution of bacteriorhodopsin by melittin is proved to be charge-dependent. In studying the location of melittin binding on the blue membrane, we suggest that melittin anchors on the membrane through both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. The electrostatic interaction is dominant. The binding sites for the electrostatic interaction should be on the surface of the membrane.

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KEY WORDS: bacteriorhodopsin, blue membrane, melittin, electrostatic interaction

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297909120128

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