Cargando…

Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins

Lipid bilayers are natural barriers of biological cells and cellular compartments. Membrane proteins integrated in biological membranes enable vital cell functions such as signal transduction and the transport of ions or small molecules. In order to determine the activity of a protein of interest at...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tiefenauer, Louis, Demarche, Sophie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5448992/
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma5112205
_version_ 1783239674041466880
author Tiefenauer, Louis
Demarche, Sophie
author_facet Tiefenauer, Louis
Demarche, Sophie
author_sort Tiefenauer, Louis
collection PubMed
description Lipid bilayers are natural barriers of biological cells and cellular compartments. Membrane proteins integrated in biological membranes enable vital cell functions such as signal transduction and the transport of ions or small molecules. In order to determine the activity of a protein of interest at defined conditions, the membrane protein has to be integrated into artificial lipid bilayers immobilized on a surface. For the fabrication of such biosensors expertise is required in material science, surface and analytical chemistry, molecular biology and biotechnology. Specifically, techniques are needed for structuring surfaces in the micro- and nanometer scale, chemical modification and analysis, lipid bilayer formation, protein expression, purification and solubilization, and most importantly, protein integration into engineered lipid bilayers. Electrochemical and optical methods are suitable to detect membrane activity-related signals. The importance of structural knowledge to understand membrane protein function is obvious. Presently only a few structures of membrane proteins are solved at atomic resolution. Functional assays together with known structures of individual membrane proteins will contribute to a better understanding of vital biological processes occurring at biological membranes. Such assays will be utilized in the discovery of drugs, since membrane proteins are major drug targets.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5448992
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2012
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-54489922017-07-28 Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins Tiefenauer, Louis Demarche, Sophie Materials (Basel) Review Lipid bilayers are natural barriers of biological cells and cellular compartments. Membrane proteins integrated in biological membranes enable vital cell functions such as signal transduction and the transport of ions or small molecules. In order to determine the activity of a protein of interest at defined conditions, the membrane protein has to be integrated into artificial lipid bilayers immobilized on a surface. For the fabrication of such biosensors expertise is required in material science, surface and analytical chemistry, molecular biology and biotechnology. Specifically, techniques are needed for structuring surfaces in the micro- and nanometer scale, chemical modification and analysis, lipid bilayer formation, protein expression, purification and solubilization, and most importantly, protein integration into engineered lipid bilayers. Electrochemical and optical methods are suitable to detect membrane activity-related signals. The importance of structural knowledge to understand membrane protein function is obvious. Presently only a few structures of membrane proteins are solved at atomic resolution. Functional assays together with known structures of individual membrane proteins will contribute to a better understanding of vital biological processes occurring at biological membranes. Such assays will be utilized in the discovery of drugs, since membrane proteins are major drug targets. MDPI 2012-11-07 /pmc/articles/PMC5448992/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma5112205 Text en © 2012 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Tiefenauer, Louis
Demarche, Sophie
Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins
title Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins
title_full Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins
title_fullStr Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins
title_full_unstemmed Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins
title_short Challenges in the Development of Functional Assays of Membrane Proteins
title_sort challenges in the development of functional assays of membrane proteins
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5448992/
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma5112205
work_keys_str_mv AT tiefenauerlouis challengesinthedevelopmentoffunctionalassaysofmembraneproteins
AT demarchesophie challengesinthedevelopmentoffunctionalassaysofmembraneproteins