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Thermal melt circular dichroism spectroscopic studies for identifying stabilising amphipathic molecules for the voltage‐gated sodium channel NavMs
Author(s) -
Ireland Sam M.,
Sula Altin,
Wallace B.A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
biopolymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/bip.23067
Subject(s) - chemistry , circular dichroism , amphiphile , molecule , aqueous solution , spectroscopy , membrane protein , membrane , crystallography , electron crystallography , protein secondary structure , polymer , organic chemistry , biochemistry , electron diffraction , diffraction , copolymer , physics , quantum mechanics , optics
Purified integral membrane proteins require amphipathic molecules to maintain their solubility in aqueous solutions. These complexes, in turn, are used in studies to characterise the protein structures by a variety of biophysical and structural techniques, including spectroscopy, crystallography, and cryo‐electron microscopy. Typically the amphilphiles used have been detergent molecules, but more recently they have included amphipols, which are polymers of different sizes and compositions designed to create smaller, more well‐defined solubilised forms of the membrane proteins. In this study we used circular dichroism spectroscopy to compare the secondary structures and thermal stabilities of the NavMs voltage‐gated sodium channel in different amphipols and detergents as a means of identifying amphipathic environments that maximally maintain the protein structure whilst providing a stabilising environment. These types of characterisations also have potential as means of screening for sample types that may be more suitable for crystallisation and/or cryo‐electron microscopy structure determinations.