Detergents destabilize the cubic phase of monoolein: implications for membrane protein crystallization.

ABSTRACT: The in meso method for membrane protein crystallization uses a lipidic cubic phase as the hosting medium. The cubic phase provides a lipid bilayer into which the protein presumably reconstitutes and from which protein crystals nucleate and grow. The solutions used to spontaneously form the protein-enriched cubic phase often contain significant amounts of detergents that were employed initially to purify and to solubilize the membrane protein. By virtue of their surface activity, detergents have the potential to impact on the phase properties of the in meso system and, by extension, the outcome of the crystallization process. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects that a popular series of nonionic detergents, the n-alkyl-beta-D-glucopyranosides, have on the phase behavior of

SUBMITTER: Misquitta Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1303585 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature