Investigation of the dynamics of bacteriorhodopsin

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) converted to the blue form by deionization has been reconstituted to the active purple membrane by addition of57Fe ions. Mossbauer spectra measured in a wide temperature range reveal Fe3+ binding places with oxygen atoms in the neighbourhood. No evidence for a well defined functional binding place of the iron has been found. On a timescale faster 100 ns the purple membrane shows increasing flexibility above 200 K. In order to analyse the influence of the lipids, a bacteriorhodopsin sample where the lipid content has been increased artificially by the incorporation of DMPC as well as a sample consisting of lipid bilayer have been investigated.