Communications Biology (Dec 2020)

Distortion of the bilayer and dynamics of the BAM complex in lipid nanodiscs

  • Matthew G. Iadanza,
  • Bob Schiffrin,
  • Paul White,
  • Matthew A. Watson,
  • Jim E. Horne,
  • Anna J. Higgins,
  • Antonio N. Calabrese,
  • David J. Brockwell,
  • Roman Tuma,
  • Antreas C. Kalli,
  • Sheena E. Radford,
  • Neil A. Ranson

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01419-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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With cryo-EM, single-molecule FRET and MD simulations, Iadanza et al. characterise the membrane protein insertase complex BAM in lipid bilayer nanodiscs. They show that the β-barrel domain of BamA is in a ‘lateral open’ conformation, and that BAM-containing lipid nanodisc deform around BAM’s lateral gate, giving structural evidence for lipid ‘disruptase’ activity of BAM.