Abstract
After decades of slow progress, the pace of research on membrane protein structures is beginning to quicken thanks to various improvements in technology, including protein engineering and microfocus X-ray diffraction. Here we review these developments and, where possible, highlight generic new approaches to solving membrane protein structures based on recent technological advances. Rational approaches to overcoming the bottlenecks in the field are urgently required as membrane proteins, which typically comprise ~30% of the proteomes of organisms, are dramatically under-represented in the structural database of the Protein Data Bank.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 335-340 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Nature Biotechnology |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 8 Apr 2011 |
Keywords
- crystallization
- protein databases
- membrane proteins
- protein engineering
- protein stability
- tertiary protein structure
- protein unfolding
- recombinant proteins
- X-ray diffraction