1.C.1.2.2
Colicin E1 of 522 aas and 1 C-terminal TMS. Ho et al. (2011) suggested a membrane topological model with a circular arrangement of helices 1-7 in a clockwise direction from the extracellular side and membrane interfacial association of helices 1, 6, 7, and 10 around the central transmembrane hairpin formed by helices 8 and 9. The 3D structure is known (PDB # 2I88; Gupta et al. 2023). ColE1 induces lipid flipping, consistent with the toroidal (proteolipidic) pore model of channel formation (Sobko et al. 2010).  The mechanism of channel integration involving the transition of the soluble to membrane-bound form has been presented (Lugo et al. 2016). Colicin E1 uses BtuB as receptor and possibly, the outer membrane TolC protein as the translocator (Cramer et al. 2018). Colicin E1 adopts a closed-channel state at positive transmembrane potentials, correlating with a large tilt angle of alpha-helical TMSs. When the transmembrane potential becomes negative, it inserts into the lipid bilayer with a low tilt angle for the TMSs. Insertion, driven by the negative potential, generates the channel with the open and closed states interconverting reversibly (Su et al. 2019).