Investigating transport proteins by solid state NMR

Abstract

Transporters form an interesting and complex class of membrane proteins. Many of them are potential drug targets due to their role in translocation of ions, small molecules and peptides across the membrane or due to their role in multidrug resistance. Hence elucidating their structure and mechanism is of great importance and may lead to a host of new drugs and methods to alter or inhibit their function. Solid state NMR is an emerging technique for investigating transport proteins. Along with other biochemical and biophysical techniques solid state NMR can provide data on drug binding, protein dynamics and structure at the interface between structural biology and functional analysis. Here, we review solid state NMR applications to primary active and secondary transporters involved in translocation of small molecules. We discuss current experimental limitations and give an overall perspective on how the technique may be used to address some pertinent questions relevant to transporters.