Crystallization of Membrane Proteins

Abstract

  The results of various genome projects have shown that up to 30% of human proteins occur in cell membranes. Membrane proteins play crucial roles in many biological functions and are of key importance for medicine. Over 50% of commercially available drugs target membrane proteins. However, crystallization of membrane proteins still remains extremely difficult and many scientists are developing new techniques to conquer the problem. Here I will discuss three current topics of membrane protein crystallization: (1) crystallization in lipidic cubic phase, (2) crystallization using antibody fragments and (3) crystallization for X-ray free electron laser experiments.