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QTY Code
The QTY Code is a design method to transform membrane proteins that are intrinsically insoluble in water into variants with water solubility, while retaining their structure and function. Similar structures of amino acids The QTY Code is based on two key molecular structural facts: 1) all 20 natural amino acids are found in alpha-helices regardless of their chemical properties, although some amino acids have a higher propensity to form an alpha-helix; and, 2) several amino acids share striking structural similarities despite their very different chemical properties. These may be paired as: Glutamine (Q) vs Leucine (L); Threonine (T) vs Valine (V) and Isoleucine (I); and Tyrosine (Y) vs Phenylalanine (F). The QTY Code systematically replaces water-insoluble amino acids (L, V, I and F) with water-soluble amino acids (Q, T and Y) in transmembrane alpha-helices. Thus, its application to membrane proteins changes the water-insoluble form of membrane proteins into water-soluble variant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Membrane Proteins
Membrane proteins are common proteins that are part of, or interact with, biological membranes. Membrane proteins fall into several broad categories depending on their location. Integral membrane proteins are a permanent part of a cell membrane and can either penetrate the membrane (transmembrane) or associate with one or the other side of a membrane ( integral monotopic). Peripheral membrane proteins are transiently associated with the cell membrane. Membrane proteins are common, and medically important—about a third of all human proteins are membrane proteins, and these are targets for more than half of all drugs. Nonetheless, compared to other classes of proteins, determining membrane protein structures remains a challenge in large part due to the difficulty in establishing experimental conditions that can preserve the correct conformation of the protein in isolation from its native environment. Function Membrane proteins perform a variety of functions vital to the surv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
