Investigating the conformational coupling between the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of a single-spanning membrane protein: A 1H-NMR study

PMP1 is a 38-residue single-spanning membrane protein whose C-terminal cytoplasmic domain, Y25–F38, is highly positively charged. The conformational coupling between the transmembrane span and the cytoplasmic domain of PMP1 was investigated from 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance data of two synthetic fragments: F9–F38, i.e. 80% of the whole sequence, and Y25–F38, the isolated cytoplasmic domain. Highly disordered in aqueous solution, the Y25–F38 peptide adopts a well-defined conformation in the presence of dodecylphosphocholine micelles. Compared with the long PMP1 fragment, this structure exhibits both native and non-native elements. Our results make it possible to assess the influence of a hydrophobic anchor on the intrinsic conformational propensity of a cytoplasmic domain.