[The heterologous expression and purification of membrane protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis]

Abstract

Membrane proteins fulfill a wide range of central functions in the cell, but their structure determination remains one of the great challenges in structural biology. The heterologous overexpression is a demanding task. Here, we provide an overview of recent advance to heterologous expression and purification of membrane protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, whose membrane proteins represent the majority of the new potential drug targets in this bacillus, which is ranked as the number1 cause of infectious disease mortality in the world. A detailed structural and functional understanding of the membranes protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis will be critical both for an understanding of the biology of infection and for the rational development of novel therapeutics. The procedures for functional expression followed by purification of membranes protein are reviewed here together with nonfunctional expression in inclusion bodies and subsequent refolding to produce functional proteins. The new expression systems, new approaches to soluble expression of recombinant proteins, new methods for membrane protein folding in vitro and new purification technology will provide a basis for choosing the best expression and purification protocol for a given membrane protein. The goal of this review is to aid researchers in the choice of a suitable expression system for their favourite proteins and make overproduction of functional membrane proteins becomes easier.