The objective of this work is to covalently attach bacteriorhodopsin (BR) to a gold surface via genetic substitution of cysteine for serine (S35C) at the 35th amino acid position. Samples of BR-containing purple membrane (PM) on gold were evaluated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). AFM images reveal a surface coverage of S35C-containing PM fragments of approximately 25%. XPS measurements reveal a small excess of sulfur for S35C-containing PM on gold, and a much larger excess of sulfur on wildtype-containing PM on gold. In both cases, the excess sulfur is covalently bound to the gold surface and appears to originate from dissociated methyl mercaptan groups from methionine residues on the external surfaces of BR. We conclude that the quantity of excess sulfur is smaller for S35C than for wildtype because the S35C’s sulfhydryl binds some PM fragments to the surface, reducing the quantity of methyl mercaptan that can bind to the surface. It then follows that the rather low coverage of S35C-containing PM fragments on gold is due to interference of the methyl mercaptan groups with the binding of S35C-containing PM fragments to the surface. Coverage might be increased by immobilizing S35C-containing fragments on a functionalized surface using a heterobifunctional cross-linker, thereby preventing dissociation of methyl mercaptan groups from BR, and by using smaller PM fragments.
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May 1997
The 43rd national symposium of the American Vacuum Society
14-18 Oct 1996
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA)
Research Article|
May 01 1997
Evidence for covalent attachment of purple membrane to a gold surface via genetic modification of bacteriorhodopsin
Robert A. Brizzolara;
Robert A. Brizzolara
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Code 684, West Bethesda, Maryland 20817
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Jennifer L. Boyd;
Jennifer L. Boyd
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia 22448
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Ann E. Tate
Ann E. Tate
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia 22448
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J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 15, 773–778 (1997)
Article history
Received:
September 27 1996
Accepted:
March 24 1997
Citation
Robert A. Brizzolara, Jennifer L. Boyd, Ann E. Tate; Evidence for covalent attachment of purple membrane to a gold surface via genetic modification of bacteriorhodopsin. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 May 1997; 15 (3): 773–778. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.580706
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