A Fluorinated Detergent for Membrane‐Protein Applications1. Issue 17 (9th March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Frotscher, Erik; Danielczak, Bartholomäus; Vargas, Carolyn; Meister, Annette; Durand, Grégory; Keller, Sandro
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 54:Issue 17(2015)
• Page Start: 5069
• Page End: 5073
• Publication Date: 2015-03-09
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201412359
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Surfactants carrying fluorocarbon chains hold great promise as gentle alternatives to conventional hydrocarbon‐based detergents for the solubilization and handling of integral membrane proteins. However, their inertness towards lipid bilayer membranes has limited the usefulness of fluorinated surfactants in situations where detergent‐like activity is required. We demonstrate that fluorination does not necessarily preclude detergency, as exemplified by a fluorinated octyl maltoside derivative termed F₆OM. This nonionic compound readily interacts with and completely solubilizes phospholipid vesicles in a manner reminiscent of conventional detergents without, however, compromising membrane order at subsolubilizing concentrations. Owing to this mild and unusual mode of detergency, F₆OM outperforms a lipophobic fluorinated surfactant in chaperoning the functional refolding of an integral membrane enzyme by promoting bilayer insertion in the absence of micelles.</p> </abstract>