Membrane Protein Structure

Studies of receptors, ion channels, and other membrance proteins reuire a solid understanding of their structural principles. Membrane protein structure, however, is one of the most challenging fields of structural biology. The structures of only three types of transmembrance proteins have been determined to moderate or high resolution during a two-decade period in which the amino acid sequence of hundreds, if not thousands, of membrane proteins have been reported. As a result, the creation of hypothetical structural models to serve as guides for studies of receptors, channels, and other membrance proteins has become crucially important to progress. But the development of suitable models requires an understanding of protein structure and structure-prediction methods as well as membrane biophysics and lipid physical chemsitry. Because the literature in each of these fields is expanding rapidly and can be daunting even for the experts, this book has been organized to share the experiences of some of the experts with researchers who need to know about the critical issues of membrane protein strcture. This book is intended for physiologists, biophysicists, biochemists, cell biologists.

Table of Contents:
Part I: The Nature of the Membrane Protein Structure Problem. 1.: D.C. Rees, A.J. Chirino, K.-H. Kim, and H. Komiya: Membrane Protein Structure and Stability: Implications of the First Crystallographic Analyses. 2.: Gunnar von Heijne: Decoding the Signals of Membrane Protein Sequences. 3.: Jean-Luc Popot, Catherine de Vitry, and Ariane Atteia: Folding and Assembly of Integral Membrane Proteins: An Introduction. 4.: Stephen White: Hydropathy Plots and the Prediction of Membrane Protein Topology. Part II: Biochemical and Molecular Biological Approaches: Protein Topology. 5.: David S. Cafiso: Experimental Determination of the Topography of Membrane Proteins: Lessons from the Nicotinic Acetycholine Receptor, a Multisubunit Polytopic Protein. 6.: Dana Boyd: The Use of Gene Fusions to Determine Membrane Protein Topology. 7.: L. Mario Amzel, Mario A. Bianchet, and Peter L. Pederson: The Structure of F1F0ATPases Determined by Indirect and Direct Methods. Part III: Direct Structural Methods. 8.: Robert W. Williams: Experimental Determination of Membrane Protein Secondary Structure using Vibrational and CD Spectroscopies. 9.: Werner Kuhlbrandt: High-Resolution Electron Crystallography of Membrane Proteins. 10.: Wayne L. Hubbell and Christian Altenbach: Site-Directed Spin Labeling of Membrane Proteins. 11.: Stanley J. Opella: NMR Approaches to Membrane Protein Structure. 12.: J. Kent Blasie: Structure of Integral Membrane Proteins within Membranes via X-Ray and neutron Diffraction: From Oriented Multilayers to a Single Monolayer. Part IV: Model and Physiocochemical Approaches. 13.: Lukas K. Tamm: Physical Studies of Peptide-Bilayer Interactions. 14.: G. Andrew Woolley and B.A. Wallace: Membrane Protein Structure: Lessons from Gramicidin. 15.: J.D. Lear, Z.R. Wasserman, and W.F. DeGrado: The Use of Synthetic Peptides for the Study of Membrane Protein Structure. 16.: Isabella L. Karle: Diffraction Studies of Model and Natural Helical Peptides