Improved isolation procedures for the purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium

Techniques for purifying teh purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium are given. This purple membrane contains a chromoprotein with a retinal prosthetic group similar to rhodopsin, the chromprotein found in the visual systems of higher invertebrates and vertebrates. The described purple membrane isolation procedures yield a highly purified preparation as determined by transmitting electron microscopy and gel electrophoresis. Critical analysis of the absorption spectra of the purple membrane was also employed to establish criteria of purity for the preparation. The visible absorption spectra of the purified purple membrane preparation in buffer was found to have a maximum at 559 nm which shifted to 567 nm on light exposure. No indication of any spectral perturbation arising from bacterioruberin-containing membrane, the major contaminant in purple membrane preparations, was found. Furthermore, the ratio of protein aromatic amino acid absorbance at 280 nm to chromophore absorbance at 567 nm was found to be 1.5 in light-exposed preparations compared to the previously reported ratio of 2.3.-3 The decrease in the value of this ratio is also indicative of an increase in the purity of the purple membrane preparation.