PROTEIN AND PEPTIDE INTERACTIONS WITH LIPIDS - STRUCTURE, MEMBRANE-FUNCTION AND NEW METHODS

Currently there is much interest in the interactions between lipids an d membrane proteins or peptides containing up to about 30 amino acids. New physical methods for such studies are presently being developed o r improved, such as surface plasmon resonance techniques fit for lipid bilayers, titration calorimetry and solid-state NMR methods, in parti cular magic angle sample spinning. A breakthrough in the crystallizati on of membrane proteins was recently established, in which a lipid cub ic phase was utilized, thus allowing the determination of the integral protein structure to a resolution of 2.0 Angstrom. The physicochemica l properties of the lipid bilayer play an important role in many biome mbrane processes, such as membrane protein folding and peptide-induced membrane fusion.