SFB members Katharina G. Hugentobler (A6), Dorothea Heinrich (B4), Joachim Heberle (A1), Ramona Schlesinger (B4), Stephan Block (A6) and collaborators from Stockholm University published a joint article on the functional reconstitution of cytochrome c-oxidase as a function of lipid composition. Congratulations!

In the study the researchers reconstituted the transmembrane protein cytochrom c oxidase (Cco)  from Rhodobacter spaeroides into the membrane of large unilamellar vesicles which contained a pH-sensitive dye. Using fluorescence microscopy they could describe proton turnover rates across the proteoliposome at a single liposome level. 

The experiments showed that efficient functional reconstition of CcO is strongly supported by the addition of anionic lipids such as phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin to the proteoliposomes.