Influence of membrane lipids on the photochemistry of bacteriorhodopsin in the purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium

Purple membrane fragments from Halobacterium halobium were reconstituted with the native lipids replaced by dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine and by egg lecithin. In parallel studies the temperature dependence of bacteriorhodopsin phototransient lifetime and absorption dichroism and of in situ lipid microviscosity were determined; the former two by, respectively, conventional and polarization flash photometry, and the latter by observation of emission depolarization of an embedded fluorescent dye, 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene. Discontinuities in lipid microviscosity profiles in native and egg lecithin purple membrane were reflected in both the photochemical cycle frequency and bacteriorhodopsin chromophore rotational mobility. The influence exerted by membrane-lipid viscosity appears to be a secondary effect, and points to the bacteriorhodopsin chromophoric group being situated in the protein interior.