FLUORESCENCE OF MEMBRANE-BOUND TRYPTOPHAN OCTYL ESTER - A MODEL FOR STUDYING INTRINSIC FLUORESCENCE OF PROTEIN-MEMBRANE INTERACTIONS

The fluorescence of a membrane-bound tryptophan derivative (tryptophan octyl ester, TOE) has been examined as a model for tryptophan fluores cence from proteins in membrane environments. The depth-dependent fluo rescence quenching of TOE by brominated lipids was found to proceed vi a a dynamic mechanism with vertical fluctuations playing a central rol e in the process. The activation energy for the quenching was estimate d to be 1.3 kcal/mole. The data were analyzed using the distribution a nalysis (DA) method, which extends the conventional parallax method to account more realistically for the transbilayer distributions of both probe and quencher and for possible variations in the probe's accessi bility. DA provides a better fit than the parallax method to data coll ected with TOE in membranes formed of lipids brominated at either the 4,5, the 6,7, the 9,10, or the 11,12 positions of the sn-2 acyl chain. DA yields information on the fluorophore's most probable depth in the membrane, its conformational heterogeneity, and its accessibility to the lipid phase. Previously reported data on cytochrome b(5) and melit tin were reanalyzed together with data obtained with TOE. This new ana lysis demonstrates conformational heterogeneity in melittin and provid es estimates of the freedom of motion and exposure to the lipid phase of membrane-embedded tryptophans of cytochrome b(5).