Membrane Protein Stabilization Strategies for Structural and Functional Studies
1
Laboratory of Amino acid Transporters and Disease, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri Reixac 10, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
2
CIBERER (Centro Español en Red de Biomedicina de Enfermedades Raras), 28029 Barcelona, Spain
3
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Balázs Sarkadi
Membranes 2021, 11(2), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020155
Received: 4 February 2021 / Revised: 15 February 2021 / Accepted: 18 February 2021 / Published: 22 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Computational Methods for Membrane Protein Design)
Accounting for nearly two-thirds of known druggable targets, membrane proteins are highly relevant for cell physiology and pharmacology. In this regard, the structural determination of pharmacologically relevant targets would facilitate the intelligent design of new drugs. The structural biology of membrane proteins is a field experiencing significant growth as a result of the development of new strategies for structure determination. However, membrane protein preparation for structural studies continues to be a limiting step in many cases due to the inherent instability of these molecules in non-native membrane environments. This review describes the approaches that have been developed to improve membrane protein stability. Membrane protein mutagenesis, detergent selection, lipid membrane mimics, antibodies, and ligands are described in this review as approaches to facilitate the production of purified and stable membrane proteins of interest for structural and functional studies.
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Keywords:
membrane proteins; stability; mutagenesis; detergent; lipid; antibody; nanobody; ligand
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MDPI and ACS Style
Errasti-Murugarren, E.; Bartoccioni, P.; Palacín, M. Membrane Protein Stabilization Strategies for Structural and Functional Studies. Membranes 2021, 11, 155. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020155
AMA Style
Errasti-Murugarren E, Bartoccioni P, Palacín M. Membrane Protein Stabilization Strategies for Structural and Functional Studies. Membranes. 2021; 11(2):155. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020155
Chicago/Turabian StyleErrasti-Murugarren, Ekaitz; Bartoccioni, Paola; Palacín, Manuel. 2021. "Membrane Protein Stabilization Strategies for Structural and Functional Studies" Membranes 11, no. 2: 155. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020155
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