Abstract
We characterised the behaviour of the purified precursor protein prePhoE upon dilution from 8 M urea by CD, fluorescence spectroscopy and gel-filtration techniques. It is demonstrated that prePhoE rapidly adopts β structure, folds and aggregates upon dilution to urea concentrations below 3 M. These processes are paralleled by a loss of translocation competence. Furthermore the interaction of prePhoE with SecB was investigated. SecB is shown to have a very high content of β structure, therefore we propose that precursor recognition by SecB is mediated through β-β interaction. It is shown that SecB has little effect on the adoption of secondary structure and tertiary folding upon dilution of the precursor from urea. However, SecB prevents the precursor from aggregating by forming a functional and stable complex.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 419-425 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | European Journal of Biochemistry |
Volume | 208 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 9 Jan 1992 |
Keywords
- membrane protein
- protein precursor
- article
- bacterial membrane
- circular dichroism
- Escherichia coli
- fluorescence spectroscopy
- gel filtration
- nonhuman
- outer membrane
- priority journal
- protein folding