Structure and function at the lipid-protein interface of a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel.

ABSTRACT: Although it has long been proposed that membrane proteins may contain tightly bound lipids, their identity, the structure of their binding sites, and their functional and structural relevance have remained elusive. To some extent, this is because tightly bound lipids are often located at the periphery of proteins, where the quality of density maps is usually poorer, and because they may be outcompeted by detergent molecules used during standard purification procedures. As a step toward characterizing natively bound lipids in the superfamily of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs), we applied single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy to fragments of native membrane obtained in the complete absence of detergent-solubilization steps. Because of the heterogeneous lipid composition

SUBMITTER: Kumar P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8201805 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature