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Biophysical studies of membrane proteins/peptides. Interaction with ...

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INTRODUCTION: LIPID-PROTEIN INTERACTIONS<br />

2.LIPID-PROTEIN INTERACTIONS<br />

2.1. Membrane protein reconstitution<br />

Even for the simplest organisms, <strong>membrane</strong> <strong>proteins</strong> in protein-lipid extracts are<br />

present in a very complex and heterogeneous environment, which can impair the<br />

possibility <strong>of</strong> conducting biophysical <strong>studies</strong> that require a simpler matrix for the<br />

protein (<strong>with</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> possible contaminants), and more controlled conditions.<br />

However, integral <strong>membrane</strong> <strong>proteins</strong> generally cannot be studied in homogeneous<br />

systems such as aqueous or organic solutions due to the complex solubility problems<br />

derived from their bitopic nature. In addition, the study <strong>of</strong> their properties in a isotropic<br />

medium, would not be biologically relevant. Systems are required that satisfy both the<br />

hydrophobicity <strong>of</strong> the <strong>membrane</strong> embedded sections <strong>of</strong> the protein as well as their<br />

hydrophilic domains. Liposomes are frequently used for such <strong>studies</strong>, since, as<br />

discussed in the previous section, they present good mimetic conditions <strong>of</strong><br />

bio<strong>membrane</strong>s. Liposomes containing reconstituted <strong>proteins</strong> are called proteoliposomes.<br />

In order to reconstitute <strong>membrane</strong> <strong>proteins</strong> in liposomes it is first necessary to purify<br />

and solubilize them. Neither <strong>of</strong> these procedures is trivial and detergents have proven<br />

invaluable tools in both. They meet the requirements <strong>of</strong> amphipatic structure necessary<br />

to solubilize the two different environments present in <strong>membrane</strong> <strong>proteins</strong> and these are<br />

frequently soluble in micellar structures. Detergents are classified according to the<br />

charge <strong>of</strong> the headgroup as ionic (cationic or anionic), non-ionic or zwitterionic.<br />

Examples <strong>of</strong> ionic detergents <strong>of</strong>ten used in <strong>membrane</strong> solubilization are sodium<br />

dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and bile acid salts. SDS is a linear chain detergent and a<br />

extremely powerful solubilizing agent for <strong>membrane</strong> <strong>proteins</strong>, however, it is also<br />

frequently denaturing. Protein renaturation is eventually possible under certain<br />

conditions after transfer to other medium (Dong et al., 1997). Bile acid salts are ionic<br />

detergents <strong>with</strong> steroidal groups for backbones. Due to the planar characteristics <strong>of</strong> the<br />

steroidal structure, instead <strong>of</strong> a proper headgroup they present a polar and an apolar<br />

face. These detergents are much weaker than SDS and more efficient in maintaining<br />

protein activity. Examples <strong>of</strong> bile acid salts are sodium cholate and sodium<br />

deoxycholate. Non-ionic detergents are also mild and relatively non-denaturating/non-<br />

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