title: Bicelles coming of age: an empirical approach to bicelle crystallization.
abstract: Biological membranes represent a unique environment in which integral membrane proteins (MPs) fold to perform diverse biological functions. In many cases, lipids support the native conformation or mediate important interactions between MPs. It is therefore imperative to develop methods that maintain this support for the structural and functional analyses of an exceedingly important class of biological macromolecules. Bicelles are detergent-stabilized phospholipid bilayer discs into which MPs can be reconstituted for biophysical studies. Here, we review recent advances and emerging concepts in employing bicelles for the crystallization and structure determination of MPs. We discuss variations of established procedures as well as alternative approaches, and we present a summary and analysis of the conditions used for bicelle-mediated MP crystallization.
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poulos
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Jacob L W
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zimmer
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. Electronic address: sf3bb@cms.mail.virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Salem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faham
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D005964:Glucosyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D012242:Rhodobacter sphaeroides / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010743:Phospholipids; D005964:Glucosyltransferases; C478648:cellulose synthase
keywords: Bicelles; Crystal screen; Membrane proteins; Nanodiscs; Phospholipid bilayer