Reconstitution of the Rhodopsin-Transducin Complex into Lipid Nanodiscs

Transmembrane proteins, such as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), require solubilization in detergents prior to purification. The recent development of novel detergents has allowed for the stabilization of GPCRs, which typically have a high degree of structural flexibility and are otherwise subject to denaturation. However, the detergent micelle environment is still very different from the native lipid membrane and the activity of GPCRs can be profoundly affected by interactions with annular lipid molecules. Moreover, GPCRs are often palmitoylated at their intracellular side, and a lipid bilayer environment would allow for proper orientation of these lipid modifications. Therefore, a reconstituted lipid bilayer environment would best mimic the physiological receptor microenvironment for biophysical studies of GPCRs and nanodiscs provide a methodology to address this aim. Nanodiscs are lipid bilayer discs stabilized by amphipathic membrane scaffolding proteins (MSP) where detergent-solubilized transmembrane proteins can be incorporated into them through a self-assembly process. Here we present a method for reconstituting the purified detergent-solubilized rhodopsin-transducin complex, the GPCR-G protein complex in visual phototransduction, into nanodiscs. The resulting complex incorporated into lipid nanodiscs can be used in biophysical studies including small-angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopy. This method is applicable to integral membrane proteins that mediate protein lipidation, including the zDHHC-family of S-acyltransferases and membrane-bound O-acyltransferases.