Fw. Lau et al., Changing single side-chains can greatly enhance the resistance of a membrane protein to irreversible inactivation, J MOL BIOL, 290(2), 1999, pp. 559-564
The thermal inactivation rates of a set of 20 cysteine-substituted variants
of the integral membrane protein diacylglycerol kinase were measured. Two
Of the mutations, I53C and I70C, were found to significantly prolong the ha
lf-life of the enzyme in detergent solution. By combining the single mutant
s to create a double mutant, I53C/I70C, the half-life of the enzyme was imp
roved from less than a minute at 70 degrees C to 51 minutes. These results
demonstrate that individual side-chain substitutions can significantly impr
ove the properties of membrane proteins in detergent solution. (C) 1999 Aca
demic Press.