A MINI-TROUGH FOR THE STUDY OF MEMBRANE INSERTION ABILITY OF PROTEINS

A mini-trough for the study of membrane insertion ability of proteins was designed and constructed. This trough was made up of teflon, small and handy, having 1.5 similar to 2.0 ml subphase volumes and 6 cm(2) surface areas for the monolayer spreading. With the unique constructio n, the vortex flow of fluids driven by the magnetic stir bar in the tr ough is converted into the laminar flow, which has no influence on the monolayer stability and surface pressure measurement. So the fluctuat ions of monolayers spread at the surface of subphase are small and the protein samples injected into the subphase could rapidly mix with the bulk solution, so as to make the response time is much rapid. Using t his mini-trough, membrane insertion ability of melittin and apocytochr ome c was studied.