Abstract
X-ray diffraction has been applied in measuring the helical pitch of the gramicidin channel in oriented bilayers of dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC) and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) at a polypeptide concentration of 9.1 mol %. The diffraction data show the helical pitch of gramicidin to be 4.7 +/- 0.2 A in both gel and liquid-crystalline phase bilayers, with and without monovalent cations. In addition, the width of the reflection due to the pitch of the helical gramicidin channel is consistent with a five turn helix.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 827-830 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Biophysical Journal |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1992 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Professors Barry M. Millman and Martha G. Shepherd for useful discussions. This research was supported by a grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.