The safety dance: biophysics of membrane protein folding and misfolding in a cellular context.

ABSTRACT: Most biological processes require the production and degradation of proteins, a task that weighs heavily on the cell. Mutations that compromise the conformational stability of proteins place both specific and general burdens on cellular protein homeostasis (proteostasis) in ways that contribute to numerous diseases. Efforts to elucidate the chain of molecular events responsible for diseases of protein folding address one of the foremost challenges in biomedical science. However, relatively little is known about the processes by which mutations prompt the misfolding of α-helical membrane proteins, which rely on an intricate network of cellular machinery to acquire and maintain their functional structures within cellular membranes. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of th

SUBMITTER: Schlebach JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4339315 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature