Eur. Phys. J. E (2013) 36: 78
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2013-13078-y

Regular Article

Dynamics measured by neutron scattering correlates with the organization of bioenergetics complexes in natural membranes from hyperthermophile and mesophile bacteria

¹⁹⁸⁹² Institut Laue Langevin, 6 rue J. Horowitz, BP 156, F-38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
²⁹⁸⁹² UFR PhITEM, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble I, F-38041, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
³⁹⁸⁹² Institut de Biologie Structurale, J.-P. Ebel, UMR 5075, CNRS-CEA-UJF, 41 rue Jules Horowitz, 38027, Grenoble, France
⁴⁹⁸⁹² Laboratoire de Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines, UMR 7281-FR 3479, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, 13402, Marseille Cedex 20, France

^* e-mail: peters@ill.fr

Received: 31 October 2012
Revised: 1 February 2013
Accepted: 26 February 2013
Published online: 17 July 2013

Abstract

Various models on membrane structure and organization of proteins and complexes in natural membranes emerged during the last years. However, the lack of systematic dynamical studies to complement structural investigations hindered the establishment of a more complete picture of these systems. Elastic incoherent neutron scattering gives access to the dynamics on a molecular level and was applied to natural membranes extracted from the hyperthermophile Aquifex aeolicus and the mesophile Wolinella succinogenes bacteria. The results permitted to extract a hierarchy of dynamic flexibility and atomic resilience within the samples, which correlated with the organization of proteins in bioenergetics complexes and the functionality of the membranes.