title: Peptides as transmembrane segments: decrypting the determinants for helix-helix interactions in membrane proteins.
abstract: Although the structural analysis of membrane proteins is advancing, an understanding of the basic principles that underlie their folding and assembly remains limited because of the high insolubility intrinsic to these molecules and concomitant challenges in obtaining crystals. Fortunately, from an experimental standpoint, membrane protein folding can be approximated as the rigid-body docking of pre-formed alpha-helical transmembrane segments one with another to form the final functional protein structure. Peptides derived from the sequences of native alpha-helical transmembrane segments and those that mimic their properties are therefore valuable in the experimental evaluation of protein folding within the membrane. Here we present an overview of the progress made in our laboratory and elsewhere in using peptide models toward defining the sequence requirements and forces stabilizing membrane protein folds.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Structure and Function, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont, Canada.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rath
authors.forename: Rachel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Charles M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Deber
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins