The light-harvesting complexes from different bacteria assume various ring sizes. In LH-2 of Rs. molischianum, the Qy transition dipole moments of neighbouring B850 and B800 BChl-as are nearly parallel to each other, that is, they are optimally aligned for Föster exciton transfer. Dexter energy transfer between these chlorophylls is also possible through interactions mediated by lycopenes and B850 BChl-a phytyl tails; the B800 BChl-a and one of the two B850 BChl-as associated with each heterodimeric unit are in van der Waals distance to a lycopene, such that singlet and triplet energy transfer between lycopene and the BChl-as can occur by the Dexter mechanism. The ring structure of the B850 BChl-as is optimal for light energy transfer in that it samples all spatial absorption and emission characteristics and places all oscillator strength into energetically low lying, thermally accessible exciton states.

Multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) transporters mediate excretion of xenobiotics and toxic metabolites, thereby conferring multidrug resistance in bacterial pathogens and cancer cells. Structural information on the alternate conformational states and knowledge of the detailed mechanism of MATE transport are of great importance for drug development. However, the structures of MATE transporters are only known in V-shaped outward-facing conformations. Here, we present the crystal structure of a MATE transporter from Pyrococcus furiosus (PfMATE) in the long-soughtafter inward-facing state, which was obtained after crystallization in the presence of native lipids. Transition from the outward-facing state to the inward-facing state involves rigid body movements of transmembrane helices (TMs) 2-6 and 8-12 to form an inverted V, facilitated by a loose binding of TM1 and TM7 to their respective bundles and their conformational flexibility. The inward-facing structure of PfMATE in combination with the outward-facing one supports an alternating access mechanism for the MATE family transporters. multidrug resistance | membrane protein structure | MATE transporter | inward-facing conformation | lipids

Membrane proteins comprise up to one-third of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes, but only a very small number of membrane protein structures are known. Membrane proteins are challenging targets for structural biology, primarily due to the difficulty in producing and purifying milligram quantities of these proteins. We are evaluating different methods to produce and purify large numbers of prokaryotic membrane proteins for subsequent structural and functional analysis. Here, we present the comparative expression data for 37 target proteins, all of them secondary transporters, from the mesophilic organism Salmonella typhimurium and the two hyperthermophilic organisms Aquifex aeolicus and Pyrococcus furiosus in three different Escherichia coli expression vectors. In addition, we study the use of Lactococcus lactis as a host for integral membrane protein expression. Overall, 78% of the targets were successfully produced under at least one set of conditions. Analysis of these results allows us to assess the role of different variables in increasing ''expression space'' coverage for our set of targets. This analysis implies that to maximize the number of nonhomologous targets that are expressed, orthologous targets should be chosen and tested in two vectors with different types of promoters, using C-terminal tags. In addition, E. coli is shown to be a robust host for the expression of prokaryotic transporters, and is superior to L. lactis. These results therefore suggest appropriate strategies for high-throughput heterologous overproduction of membrane proteins.

No abstract