Assembly of an in vitro synthesized Escherichia coli outer membrane porin into its stable trimeric configuration.

The folding of in vitro synthesized outer membrane protein PhoE of Escherichia coli was studied in immunoprecipitation experiments with monoclonal antibodies which recognize cell surface-exposed conformational epitopes. The signal sequence appears to interfere with the formation of these conformational epitopes, since a mutant PhoE protein which lacks the majority of the signal peptide could be precipitated four times better than the wild type precursor. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the immunoprecipitated PhoE protein revealed that part of the immunoprecipitated PhoE was present as a heat-modifiable form of the protein which migrated faster in the gels than the completely denatured protein. This form of the protein probably represents a folded monomer which might be an intermediate in the assembly of the protein. Outer membrane vesicles were required to induce the formation of small amounts of heat-stable trimers, the functional form of the protein in vivo.