Functional reconstitution of carrier proteins by removal of detergent with a hydrophobic ion exchange column.

A method has been developed for the functional reconstitution of membrane proteins in phospholipid vesicles. This method is an extension of a previously published procedure (Ueno, M., Tanford, C. and Reynolds, A. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 3070-3076) for the formation of unilamellar vesicles from mixed micelles of egg phosphatidylcholine and dodecyl octaoxyethylene ether. Mixed micelles are formed from detergent-solubilized protein and egg-yolk phospholipid vesicles. These micelles are subjected to repeated passage through small columns filled with Amberlite XAD-2 beads. Several carrier proteins from the inner mitochondrial membrane have been reconstituted in this way; experimental data are shown for the aspartate/glutamate carrier and the ADP/ATP carrier. Certain parameters proved to be important for optimal efficiency of reconstitution: the ratio of detergent/phospholipid in the mixed micelles, the concentration of phospholipid during the hydrophobic chromatography, the ratio of phospholipid/protein, (d) the ratio of detergent/Amberlite XAD 2 beads, the number of column passages, and the type of detergent. After optimization of these parameters, phospholipid vesicles with a diameter of about 150 nm were obtained. The main advantage of this procedure, however, lies in the fact that high amounts of membrane protein can be incorporated into the phospholipid vesicles, i.e. up to 15% (w/w).