A dynamic view of peptides and proteins in membranes.
Biological membranes are highly dynamic supramolecular arrangements of lipids and proteins, which fulfill key cellular functions. Relatively few high-resolution membrane protein structures are known to date, although during recent years the structural databases have expanded at an accelerated pace. In some instances the structures of reaction intermediates provide a stroboscopic view on the conformational changes involved in protein function. Other biophysical approaches add dynamic aspects and allow one to investigate the interactions with the lipid bilayers. Membrane-active peptides fulfill many important functions in nature as they act as antimicrobials, channels, transporters or hormones, and their studies have much increased our understanding of polypeptide-membrane interactions. Interestingly several proteins have been identified that interact with the membrane as loose arrays of domains. Such conformations easily escape classical high-resolution structural analysis and the lessons learned from peptides may therefore be instructive for our understanding of the functioning of such membrane proteins.
Institut de chimie, CNRS, Université Louis Pasteur, UMR 7177, 4 rue Blaise Pascal, 67000, Strasbourg, France. bechinger@chimie.u-strasbg.fr
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D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008566:Membranes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008055:Lipids; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010455:Peptides