Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1993 Jan;64(1):157-62.
doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(93)81350-X.

X-ray scattering with momentum transfer in the plane of membrane. Application to gramicidin organization

K He  1 , S J Ludtke, Y Wu, H W Huang
Affiliations

X-ray scattering with momentum transfer in the plane of membrane. Application to gramicidin organization

K He et al. Biophys J. 1993 Jan.

Abstract

We demonstrate a technique for measuring x-ray (or neutron) scattering with the momentum transfer confined in the plane of membrane, for the purpose of studying lateral organization of proteins and peptides in membrane. Unlike freeze-fracture electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy which requires the membrane to be frozen or fixed, in-plane x-ray scattering can be performed with the membrane maintained in the liquid crystalline state. As an example, the controversial question of whether gramicidin forms aggregates in membrane was investigated. We used dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC) bilayers containing gramicidin in the molar ratio of 10:1. Very clear scattering curves reflecting gramicidin channel-channel correlation were obtained, even for the sample containing no heavy atoms. Thallium ions bound to gramicidin channels merely increase the magnitude of the scattering curve. Analysis of the data shows that the channels were randomly distributed in the membrane, similar to a computer simulation of freely moving disks in a plane. We suggest that oriented proteins may provide substantial x-ray contrast against the lipid background without requiring heavy-atom labeling. This should open up many possible new experiments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Science. 1988 May 27;240(4856):1177-81 - PubMed
    1. J Ultrastruct Res. 1976 Apr;55(1):1-3 - PubMed
    1. Biochemistry. 1981 Mar 31;20(7):1771-7 - PubMed
    1. Biophys J. 1988 Jan;53(1):111-7 - PubMed
    1. Biochemistry. 1981 Mar 31;20(7):1761-70 - PubMed

Publication types