TCB Publications - Abstract
Danielle Chandler, Jen Hsin, Christopher B. Harrison, James Gumbart, and Klaus Schulten. Intrinsic curvature properties of photosynthetic proteins in chromatophores. Biophysical Journal, 95:2822-2836, 2008. (PMC: 2527265)
. The shape of
chromatophores is primarily dependent on species, and is typically spherical or flat. How these shapes arise from the protein-protein and protein-membrane interactions is still unknown. Now, using molecular dynamics simulations, we have observed the dynamic curvature of membranes caused by proteins in the chromatophore. A membrane-embedded array of LH2s was found to relax to a
curved state, both for LH2 from Rps. acidophila and a homology modeled LH2 from Rb. sphaeroides. A modeled LH1-RC-PufX dimer was found to develop a bend at the dimerizing
interface resulting in a curved shape as well. In contrast, the bc complex, which has not been imaged yet in native chromatophores, did not induce a preferred membrane curvature in
simulation. Based on these results, a model for how the different photosynthetic proteins influence chromatophore shape is presented.
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