Structural genomics of membrane proteins

Abstract

Improvements in the fields of membrane-protein molecular biology and biochemistry, technical advances in structural data collection and processing, and the availability of numerous sequenced genomes have paved the way for membrane-protein structural genomics efforts. There has been significant recent progress, but various issues essential for high-throughput membrane-protein structure determination remain to be resolved.

Figure 1

Membrane-protein models representing the two general categories of transmembrane-region structure. (a) Side-view of BtuCD Vitamin B12 Transporter [51] containing an α-helical transmembrane region (PDB accession code 1L7V); and (b) side-view of FecA Ferric Citrate Uptake Receptor [52] featuring a β-barrel transmembrane region (PDB accession code 1KMO). Light gray blocks on the sides of each model depict the approximate limits of the lipid bilayer. The figure was produced using MOLSCRIPT [53] and Raster3D [54].

Figure 2

Primary detergents used to obtain crystals of membrane proteins suitable for high-resolution structural studies [1]. The proportion of proteins solved with each detergent is indicated. Abbreviations: OG, n-octyl-β-D-glucopyranoside; NG, n-nonyl-β-D-glucopyranoside; OM, n-octyl-β-D-maltopyranoside; DM, n-decyl-β-D-maltopyranoside; UDM, n-undecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside; DDM, n-dodecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside; TDM, n-tridecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside; C8E4, polyoxyethylene (4) octyl ether; C12E8, polyoxyethylene (8) dodecyl ether; C12E9, polyoxyethylene (9) dodecyl ether; C10DAO, n-decyl-N,N-dimethylamine-N-oxide; LDAO, n-dodecyl-N,N-dimethylamine-N-oxide; LAPAO, 3-laurylamido-N,N-dimethylpropylaminoxide; FC14, n-tetradecylphosphocholine; MEGA10, decanoyl-N-methylglucamide; DHPC, 1,2-diheptanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine.