Interactions between membrane protein interfaces in lipid bilayers play an important role in membrane protein folding but quantification of the strength of these interactions has been challenging. Studying dimerization of ClC-type transporters offers a new approach to the problem, as individual subunits adopt a stable and functionally verifiable fold that constrains the system to two states – monomer or dimer. Here, we use single-molecule photobleaching analysis to measure the probability of ClC-ec1 subunit capture into liposomes during extrusion of large, multilamellar membranes. The capture statistics describe a monomer to dimer transition that is dependent on the subunit/lipid mole fraction density and follows an equilibrium dimerization isotherm. This allows for the measurement of the free energy of ClC-ec1 dimerization in lipid bilayers, revealing that it is one of the strongest membrane protein complexes measured so far, and introduces it as new type of dimerization model to investigate the physical forces that drive membrane protein association in membranes.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17438.001

The major protective coat of most viruses is a highly symmetric protein capsid that forms spontaneously from many copies of identical proteins. Structural and mechanical properties of such capsids, as well as their self-assembly process, have been studied experimentally and theoretically, including modeling efforts by computer simulations on various scales. Atomistic models include specific details of local protein binding but are limited in system size and accessible time, while coarse grained (CG) models do get access to longer time and length scales but often lack the specific local interactions. Multi-scale models aim at bridging this gap by systematically connecting different levels of resolution. Here, a CG model for CCMV (Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle Virus), a virus with an icosahedral shell of 180 identical protein monomers, is developed, where parameters are derived from atomistic simulations of capsid protein dimers in aqueous solution. In particular, a new method is introduced to combine the MARTINI CG model with a supportive elastic network based on structural fluctuations of individual monomers. In the parametrization process, both network connectivity and strength are optimized. This elastic-network optimized CG model, which solely relies on atomistic data of small units (dimers), is able to correctly predict inter-protein conformational flexibility and properties of larger capsid fragments of 20 and more subunits. Furthermore, it is shown that this CG model reproduces experimental (Atomic Force Microscopy) indentation measurements of the entire viral capsid. Thus it is shown that one obvious goal for hierarchical modeling, namely predicting mechanical properties of larger protein complexes from models that are carefully parametrized on elastic properties of smaller units, is achievable.

Over two-thirds of integral membrane proteins of known structure assemble into oligomers. Yet, the forces that drive the association of these proteins remain to be delineated, as the lipid bilayer is a solvent environment that is both structurally and chemically complex. In this study we reveal how the lipid solvent defines the dimerization equilibrium of the CLC-ec1 Cl-/H+ antiporter. Integrating experimental and computational approaches, we show that monomers associate to avoid a thinned-membrane defect formed by hydrophobic mismatch at their exposed dimerization interfaces. In this defect, lipids are strongly tilted and less densely packed than in the bulk, with a larger degree of entanglement between opposing leaflets and greater water penetration into the bilayer interior. Dimerization restores the membrane to a near-native state and therefore, appears to be driven by the larger free-energy cost of lipid solvation of the dissociated protomers. Supporting this theory, we demonstrate that addition of short-chain lipids strongly shifts the dimerization equilibrium towards the monomeric state, and show that the cause of this effect is that these lipids preferentially solvate the defect. Importantly, we show that this shift requires only minimal quantities of short-chain lipids, with no measurable impact on either the macroscopic physical state of the membrane or the protein's biological function. Based on these observations, we posit that free-energy differentials for local lipid solvation define membrane-protein association equilibria. With this, we argue that preferential lipid solvation is a plausible cellular mechanism for lipid regulation of oligomerization processes, as it can occur at low concentrations and does not require global changes in membrane properties.

Summary We adapted the yeast 2-hybrid assay to simultaneously uncover multiple transient protein interactions within a single screen by using a strategy termed DEEPN (dynamic enrichment for evaluation of protein networks). This approach incorporates high-throughput DNA sequencing and computation to follow competition among a plasmid population encoding interacting partners. To demonstrate the capacity of DEEPN, we identify a wide range of ubiq-uitin-binding proteins, including interactors that we verify biochemically. To demonstrate the specificity of DEEPN, we show that DEEPN allows simultaneous comparison of candidate interactors across multiple bait proteins, allowing differential interactions to be identified. This feature was used to identify interactors that distinguish between GTP- and GDP-bound conformations of Rab5.

We characterized the structure of partially unfolded bacteriorhodopsin in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles and compared it with its in vitro refolded structure after reconstitution with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine/3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate (DMPC/CHAPS). Intrahelical and interhelical distances were mapped in the protein using strategically located spin-label pairs at helical ends, assayed by pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (double electron-electron spin resonance, DEER). We find that in SDS the intrahelical end-to-end distances exhibit broad distributions, suggesting a heterogeneous ensemble of conformations with differing secondary structures. Nevertheless, a majority of the denatured population retains end-to-end distances similar to those in the native state. In contrast, the observed greatly increased interhelical distances, in addition to their very broad distributions, suggest that in the SDS micelles very little of the native tertiary structure remains.