NMR investigations of subunit c of the ATP synthase from Propionigenium modestum in chloroform/methanol/water (4 : 4 : 1).

The subunit c from the ATP synthase of Propionigenium modestum was studied by NMR in chloroform/methanol/water (4 : 4 : 1). In this solvent, subunit c consists of two helical segments, comprised of residues L5 to I26 and G29 to N82, respectively. On comparing the secondary structure of subunit c from P. modestum in the organic solvent mixture with that in dodecylsulfate micelles several deviations became apparent: in the organic solvent, the interruption of the alpha helical structure within the conserved GXGXGXGX motif was shortened from five to two residues, the prominent interruption of the alpha helical structure in the cystoplasmic loop region was not apparent, and neither was there a break in the alpha helix after the sodium ion-binding Glu65 residue. The folding of subunit c of P. modestum in the organic solvent also deviated from that of Escherichia coli in the same environment, the most important difference being that subunit c of P. modestum did not adopt a stable hairpin structure like subunit c of E. coli.