| 1. |
- Wöhri, Annemarie, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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A Lipidic-Sponge Phase Screen for Membrane Protein Crystallization
- 2008
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Ingår i: Structure. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-2126 .- 1878-4186. ; 16:7, s. 1003-1009
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A major current deficit in structural biology is the lack of high-resolution structures of eukaryotic membrane proteins, many of which are key drug targets for the treatment of disease. Numerous eukaryotic membrane proteins require specific lipids for their stability and activity, and efforts to crystallize and solve the structures of membrane proteins that do not address the issue of lipids frequently end in failure rather than success. To help address this problem, we have developed a sparse matrix crystallization screen consisting of 48 lipidic-sponge phase conditions. Sponge phases form liquid lipid bilayer environments which are suitable for conventional hanging- and sitting-drop crystallization experiments. Using the sponge phase screen, we obtained crystals of several different membrane proteins from bacterial and eukaryotic sources. We also demonstrate how the screen may be manipulated by incorporating specific lipids such as cholesterol; this modification led to crystals being recovered from a bacterial photosynthetic core complex.
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| 2. |
- Wadsten, Pia, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Lipidic sponge phase crystallization of membrane proteins.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of molecular biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-2836 .- 1089-8638. ; 364:1, s. 44-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bicontinuous lipidic cubic phases can be used as a host for growing crystals of membrane proteins. Since the cubic phase is stiff, handling is difficult and time-consuming. Moreover, the conventional cubic phase may interfere with the hydrophilic domains of membrane proteins due to the limited size of the aqueous pores. Here, we introduce a new crystallization method that makes use of a liquid analogue of the cubic phase, the sponge phase. This phase facilitates a considerable increase in the allowed size of aqueous domains of membrane proteins, and is easily generalised to a conventional vapour diffusion crystallisation experiment, including the use of nanoliter drop crystallization robots. The appearance of the sponge phase was confirmed by visual inspection, small-angle X-ray scattering and NMR spectroscopy. Crystals of the reaction centre from Rhodobacter sphaeroides were obtained by a conventional hanging-drop experiment, were harvested directly without the addition of lipase or cryoprotectant, and the structure was refined to 2.2 Angstroms resolution. In contrast to our earlier lipidic cubic phase reaction centre structure, the mobile ubiquinone could be built and refined. The practical advantages of the sponge phase make it a potent tool for crystallization of membrane proteins.
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