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Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Reconstitution of a Kv Channel into Lipid Membranes for Structural and Functional Studies
Published on: July 13, 2013
Inactivation mechanism of the membrane protein diacylglycerol kinase in detergent solution
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Molecular Biology Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095-1570, USA.
Abstract:
We have examined the irreversible inactivation mechanism of the membrane protein diacylglycerol kinase in the detergents n-octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (OG) at 55 degrees C and n-decyl-maltopyranoside (DM) at 80 degrees C. Under no inactivation conditions did we find any direct evidence for the chemical modifications that are commonly found in soluble proteins. Moreover, protein inactivated at 55 degrees C in OG could be reactivated by an unfolding and refolding protocol, suggesting that the protein is inactivated by a stable conformational change, not a covalent modification. We also found that the inactivation rate decreased with both increasing protein concentration and increasing thermodynamic stability, consistent with an inactivation pathway involving transient dissociation and/or unfolding of the protein. Our results suggest that the primary cause of diacylglycerol kinase inactivation is not low solubility, but poor intrinsic stability in the detergent environment.
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