Book review - Membrane proteins

The importance of membrane proteins is perhaps best illustrated, on the one hand, by their abundance and diversity. Over 30 per cent of all proteins in eukaryotic cells are membrane-bound.

On the other hand, as a result of their central roles, membrane proteins are linked to many diseases and represent 70 per cent of all drug targets. Structural Genomics on Membrane Proteins provides the reader with an overview of structural biology research and recent technological developments relating to membrane proteins.

With contributions from more than 40 researchers this volume serves as a useful reference for background and methodologies. The various approaches for recombinant expression and production of membrane proteins in bacteria, yeast, insect and mammalian cells are reviewed.

The advantages of each system are discussed and practically tested advice addressing the use of specifically designed expression vectors and optimised growth conditions are suggested with reference to specific examples. Downstream processing of recombinant proteins including solubilisation, refolding and purification procedures are outlined extensively to optimise high yield recovery.

Current crystallisation techniques employed to obtain high-resolution protein structures are summarised as well as the great opportunities offered by alternative technologies such as nuclear magnetic resonance, electron and atomic force microscopy. Moreover, recent efforts in the miniaturisation of structural biology using automated methods have enabled high-throughput protein production for membrane structure and function studies.

Bioinformatics prediction methods and the application of computational molecular models for structure-based drug design are demonstrated through G-protein coupled receptor examples with the aim of achieving breakthroughs in drug discovery. This is a recommended reference for research laboratories involved in the study and expression of recombinant proteins.

Palgrave Macmillan

Kenneth H. Lundstrom, editor

400pp hardback

ISBN 157444526X