Protein-Protein Interaction in Purple Membrane

Maikel C. Rheinstädter, Karin Schmalzl, Kathleen Wood, and Dieter Strauch

Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 128104 – Published 18 September 2009

Abstract

We present experimental evidence for a long-range protein-protein interaction in purple membrane (PM). The interprotein dynamics were quantified by measuring the spectrum of the acoustic phonons in the 2D bacteriorhodopsin (BR) protein lattice using inelastic neutron scattering. Phonon energies of about 1 meV were determined. The data are compared to an analytical model, and the effective spring constant for the interaction between neighboring protein trimers are determined to be $k = 53 N / m$ . Additional, optical-like excitations at 0.45 meV were found and assigned to intraprotein dynamics between neighboring BR monomers.

Received 7 April 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.128104

Authors & Affiliations

Maikel C. Rheinstädter^1,2,4,*, Karin Schmalzl³, Kathleen Wood^4,5,†, and Dieter Strauch⁶

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada
²Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, Chalk River, Ontario, K0J 1J0, Canada
³Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, JCNS at ILL, F-38042 Grenoble, France
⁴Institut Laue-Langevin, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
⁵Institut de Biologie Structurale Jean Pierre Ebel CEA-CNRS-UJF, F-38027 Grenoble, France
⁶Theoretische Physik, Universität Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany

^*rheinstadter@mcmaster.ca
^†Present address: Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation, Bragg Institute, Menai, Australia.

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Vol. 103, Iss. 12 — 18 September 2009

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