I'm trying to find information on how to take a purified membrane protein sample and embed them into an artificial vesicle. If possible has anyone seen a protocol on the basic procedure if there is one?
My expertise tells me that you should think a lot before "acting". You have to consider quite a number of issues: the type of protein you are working with (a channel?) will condition the choice of the "monomer" needed for preparing the artificial membrane, the type fo experiment you want to perform once you get the protein inserted also may condition the choice of the right building blocks, etc. If you have clear answers to those questions you will be in a better position to look for the right reagents and the right procedure/protocol. And for the protocol I would suggest to go to an ad hoc laboratory to learn how to do what you have decided to do.
I wish this paper may help you
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4770187/
There are numerous ways to approach the problem of membrane protein reconstitution. If someone else has already published a successful method for the same protein or a closely related one, then it would be advisable to attempt to use that procedure. A good source of techniques is Methods in Enzymology.
In general, one mixes the purified protein dissolved in a detergent (examples are cholate, n-octylglucoside and dodecylmaltoside) with the desired lipids, then removes the detergent. Lipid vesicles form, and hopefully some of your protein is incorporated in them.
Here is an example: http://www.jbc.org/content/269/5/3745.long
There are several methods for removing the detergent, including simple dilution, gel filtration chromatography, dialysis, and BioBeads.
There are several aspects to consider once the reconstitution is completed: Is the reconstituted protein biologically active? Is it correctly inserted into the membrane? What is its orientation (if the vesicles are sealed)?
If you want to reconstitute the protein into nanodiscs, try the methods in this article:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4196316/pdf/nihms634011.pdf
I apologize for responding extremely late still thank you all very much. The type of protein that I plan to work with is the Maltoporin LamB trans-membrane protein. I have found a collection of papers on the subject and have began to evaluate which protocols are best for this experiment. Again thank you for your help.
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