Circular dichroism of the two major conformational states of mammalian (Na+ + K+)-ATPase.

No alteration in the circular dichroic spectrum of fully active, membrane-bound (Na+ + K+)-ATPase is observed when the protein is cycled between the two major conformational states, E1 and E2. This finding is in agreement with the infrared study by Chetverin and Brazhnikov (J. Biol. Chem. 260 (1985) 7817) and demonstrates that any difference in secondary structure between the two conformers must be less than 2%.