Photo-induced proton gradients for the in vitro investigation of bacterial efflux pumps

Alice Verchère (1) , Isabelle Broutin (1) , Martin Picard

1 LCRB - UMR 8015 - Laboratoire de cristallographie et RMN biologiques

We describe an original activity assay for membrane transport that uses the proton motive force-dependent efflux pump MexAB from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This pump is co-reconstituted into proteoliposomes together with bacteriorhodopsin (BR), a light-activated proton pump. In this system, upon illumination with visible light, the photo-induced proton gradient created by the BR is shown to be coupled to the active transport of substrates through the pump.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Alice Verchère, Isabelle Broutin, Martin Picard. Photo-induced proton gradients for the in vitro investigation of bacterial efflux pumps. Scientific Reports, 2012, 2 (1), ⟨10.1038/srep00306⟩. ⟨hal-02150071⟩