Interaction of alpha-lactalbumin with phosphatidylglycerol. Influence of protein binding on the lipid phase transition and lipid acyl chain mobility.

The mobility of spin-labeled lipids has been studied in dioleoyl and dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol bilayers and in their complexes with alpha-lactalbumin at pH 4.0, by using electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. The ESR spectra of phosphatidylglycerol spin-labeled at position 5 of the sn-2 chain indicate that association of alpha-lactalbumin with dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol bilayers increases the chain mobility at temperatures in the lipid gel phase, restricts the chain mobility at temperatures corresponding to the lipid fluid phase, and abolishes the cooperative lipid chain-melting transition. The ESR spectra of phosphatidylglycerols spin-labeled at eight different positions in the sn-2 chain show that binding of alpha-lactalbumin to dioleoyl phosphatidylglycerol bilayers at pH 4.0 causes a motional restriction throughout the full length of the lipid acyl chain. For phosphatidylglycerols spin-labeled at the terminal methyl end of the chains, a population of motionally restricted lipids that directly contacts membrane penetrant portions of the protein is detected. This population corresponds to 6.3 +/- 0.7 lipids/alpha-lactalbumin at saturation binding, and the high degree of motional restriction (maximum hyperfine splitting approximately 60 G) suggests that the protein may traverse the lipid bilayer. A small selectivity of phosphatidylglycerol over zwitterionic phospholipids for interaction with alpha-lactalbumin is found at subsaturating levels of binding at pH 4.0. Binding of alpha-lactalbumin also strongly restricts the motion of lipids spin-labeled in the polar head group region. These results are of direct relevance to the insertion and translocation of a protein in the molten globule state across lipid membranes.