Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Detergent structure in crystals of a bacterial photosynthetic reaction centre

Nature volume 340, pages 659–662 (1989)Cite this article

Abstract

RECENT evidence shows that membrane-bound proteins can be crystallized successfully in the presence of detergent1-3, which seems to facilitate the ordered packing of the proteins by binding to their hydrophobic surfaces in micellar manner4,5. This approach has enabled the molecular structures of two bacterial photosynthetic reaction centres to be solved at high resolution by X-ray crystallography6-9, each of which has provided insights into the mechanism of photo-activated electron transport across the cell membrane. The detergent, however, although present in high concentration in the crystals, is not seen in these high-resolution structures because of disordering. To determine the structural motifs formed by the detergent that are involved in crystal packing, we have therefore generated a low-resolution structure using neutron diffraction with contrast variation. We find that the detergent is concentrated in rings which fill all the available space around the membrane-spanning α-helices of the reaction-centre protein subunits L, M and H. These rings are interconnected throughout the crystal lattice by short cylindrical detergent bridges such that zig-zag chains are formed parallel to the c direction. The average structure of the detergent therefore is spatially complementary to the structure of the reaction-centre complex and provides a model for the interaction between the lipid bilayer and the complex in vivo.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Michel, H. & Oesterhelt, D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 1283–1285 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Garavito, M. & Rosenbusch, J. P. J. Cell Biol. 86, 327–329 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Michel, H. J. molec. Biol. 158, 567–572 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Michel, H. Trends biochem. Sci. 8, 56–59 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Garavito, R. M., Markovic-Housley, Z. & Jenkins, J. A. J. Crystal Growth 76, 701–709 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Deisenhofer, J., Epp, O., Miki, K., Huber, R. & Michel, H. J. molec. Biol. 180, 385–398 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Deisenhofer, J., Epp, O., Miki, K., Huber, R. & Michel, H. Nature 318, 618–624 (1985).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Allen, J. P., Feher, G., Yeates, T. O., Komiya, H. & Rees, D. C. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 5730–5734 (1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Allen, J. P., Feher, G., Yeates, T. O., Komiya, H. & Rees, D. C. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 6162–6166 (1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bentley, G. A., Lewit-Bentley, A., Finch, J. T., Podjarny, A. D. & Roth, M. J. molec. Biol. 176, 55–75 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Roth, M., Lewit-Bentley, A. & Bentley, G. A. J. appl. Crystallogr. 17, 77–84 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Roth, M. Acta crystallogr. A43, 780–787 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Sardet, C., Tardieu, A. & Luzzatti, V. J. molec. Biol. 105, 383–407 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lewis, B. & Engelman, D. J. molec. Biol. 166, 211–217 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Yeates, T. O., Komiya, H., Rees, D. C., Allen, J. P. & Feher, G. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 6438–6442 (1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Jay, F., Lambilotte, M., Stark, W. & Mühlethaler, K. EMBO J. 4, 773–776 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Stark, W., Kühlbrandt, W., Wildhaber, I., Wehrli, E. & Müthlethaler, K. EMBO J. 4, 777–783 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Allemand, R., Bourdel, J., Roudaut, E., Convert, P., Ibel, K., Jacobe, J., Cotton, J. P. & Farnoux, B. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. 126, 29–42 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Roche, C. T., Strauss, M. G. & Brenner, R. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. NS-32, 373–379 (1985).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Roth, M. & Lewit-Bentley, A. in Journal de Physique 47, Colloque C5, Workshop on Software for Evaluation of Data from PSD (ed. Mclntyre, G. J.) C5 27–C5 34 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Roth, M. & Lewit-Bentley, A. Acta crystallogr. A38, 670–679 (1982).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Laue-Langevin, BP156X, 38042, Grenoble, France

    M. Roth

  2. LURE, Bât. 209D, 91405, Orsay, France

    A. Lewit-Bentley & R. Huber

  3. MPI für Biochemie, 8033, Martinsried, FRG

    H. Michel, J. Deisenhofer & D. Oesterhelt

  4. Max-Planck Institut für Biophysik, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Strasse, 6000, Frankfurt/Main, 71, FRG

    H. Michel

  5. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 5323 Harry Hines Bvd, Dallas, Texas, 75235-9050, USA

    J. Deisenhofer

Authors
  1. M. Roth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Lewit-Bentley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H. Michel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. Deisenhofer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R. Huber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. D. Oesterhelt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Roth, M., Lewit-Bentley, A., Michel, H. et al. Detergent structure in crystals of a bacterial photosynthetic reaction centre. Nature 340, 659–662 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/340659a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/340659a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing