Rationalizing alpha-helical membrane protein crystallization

DOI: 10.1110/ps.073263108

Authors: Simon Newstead (University of Oxford) , Sebastien Ferrandon (Imperial College London) , So Iwata (Diamond Light Source)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Protein Science , VOL 17 , PAGES 466-472

State: Published (Approved)
Published: March 2008

Abstract: X-ray crystallography is currently the most successful method for determining the three-dimensional structure of membrane proteins. Nevertheless, growing the crystals required for this technique presents one of the major bottlenecks in this area of structural biology. This is especially true for the alpha-helical type membrane proteins that are of particular interest due to their medical relevance. To address this problem we have undertaken a detailed analysis of the crystallization conditions from 121 alpha-helical membrane protein structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank. This information has been analyzed so that the success of different parameters can be easily compared for different membrane protein families. Concurrent with this analysis, we also present the new sparse matrix crystallization screen MemGold.

Journal Keywords: Membrane Proteins; Protein Crystallization

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials


Technical Areas: