title: Membrane protein reconstitution into giant unilamellar vesicles: a review on current techniques.
abstract: Studying membrane proteins at the molecular level represents a major challenge in biochemistry due to the complexity of the membrane in which they are embedded. As an important step towards a detailed understanding of their action and molecular functioning, current studies focus on membrane proteins reconstituted into artificial lipid environments. Such reconstituted systems allow for a more flexible choice of biochemical, biophysical, and microscopy techniques for characterizing the proteins. This review gives an overview of the methods currently available for reconstituting membrane proteins in a functional state into giant unilamellar vesicles, and discusses some key methods to verify successful reconstitution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Membrane Pumps in Cells and Disease-PUMPKIN, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg C, 1871, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ida Louise
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Membrane Pumps in Cells and Disease-PUMPKIN, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg C, 1871, Denmark. gerkem@plen.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Gerdi Christine
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Kemmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Membrane Pumps in Cells and Disease-PUMPKIN, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg C, 1871, Denmark. tgp@plen.ku.dk.|Department of Molecular Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany. tgp@plen.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Thomas Günther
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4889-0829
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Pomorski
mesh_terms: D008561:Membrane Fusion; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes
keywords: Electroformation; Liposome; Peptide-induced fusion; Reconstitution; Vesicle