As your first experiment in the laboratory, your adviser asks you to reconstitute purified bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven H⁺ pump from the plasma membrane of photosynthetic bacteria, and purified ATP synthase from ox-heart mitochondria together into the same membrane vesicles as shown in Figure Q14–18. You are then asked to add ADP and Pi to the external medium and shine light into the suspension of vesicles.

A. What do you observe?

B. What do you observe if not all the detergent is removed and the vesicle membrane therefore remains leaky to ions?

C. You tell a friend over dinner about your new experiments, and he questions the validity of an approach that utilizes components from so widely divergent, unrelated organisms: “Why would anybody want to mix vanilla pudding with brake fluid?” Defend your approach against his critique.

Transcribed Image Text:

purified bacteriorhodopsin LIGHT Figure Q14-18 + purified ATP synthase detergent ADD PHOSPHOLIPIDS AND REMOVE DETERGENT sealed vesicle (liposome)