Chemical Biology of Membrane Proteins

Membrane proteins - especially multi-membrane spanning ion channels and receptors - are important targets in biotechnological research and drug development as they form the main barriers to delivering drugs into a cell. Researchers are investigating these proteins using chemical synthesis, semisynthesis and modification. Chemical Biology of Membrane Proteins provides examples of chemical synthesis and semisynthesis of (ion) channels, membrane-associated proteins as well as specific modifications of transmembrane receptors. The book demonstrates how such modifications help to elucidate the structure and function of complex membrane proteins. It also details the pitfalls related to the recombinant expression and handling of membrane proteins and strategies to overcome them. Topics covered include: - chemical synthesis and semisynthesis of membrane proteins- chemical synthesis and chemical-scale understanding of ion channels- functional re-engineering of ion channels- chemically engineered membrane pores- semisynthesis of the functional potassium channel KcsA- studying the chemical basis of ligand-receptor interactions- structural and kinetic studies of membrane associated Rab proteins- protein conformation of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)- exploring signal transduction in sensory rhodopsins by site-specific spin-labeling- electrophysiological characterization of template-assembled membrane proteins- probing the function of neuroreceptors by fluorescence techniques- structures of viral membrane proteins based on isotope-edited FTIR spectroscopy- solid-state NMR of membrane proteins Chemical Biology of Membrane Proteins "presents the state-of-the-art of this exciting field of protein science, with contributions from international experts. It is an essential resource for academic and industrial scientists in the fields of peptide and protein drug design, biomedicine, biochemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, protein science and medicinal/pharmaceutical chemistry.