F1F0-ATP synthase -: Stalking mind and imagination

Electron microscopy together with image analysis has been used to study the structure of the intact F1F0-ATPsynthase from Escherichia coli. A procedure has been developed which allows preparation of detergent-free enzyme. Aside from the well known two-domain structure, images of F1F0 prepared by this procedure show a number of additional features, including a second stalk, which can be seen extending all the way from the F-0 to the top of the F-1 in some images, and a small protein on the very top of the F-1, which has been identified as the delta subunit by decoration with a monoclonal antibody. In light of these results, a refined model of the subunit arrangement of the complex is presented.