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Making the Most of Fusion Tags Technology in Structural Characterization of Membrane Proteins

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Abstract

Membrane proteins can be investigated at various structural levels, including the topological structure, the high-resolution three-dimensional structure, and the organization and assembly of membrane protein complexes. Gene fusion technology makes it possible to insert a polynucleotide encoding a protein or polypeptide tag into the gene encoding a membrane protein of interest. Resultant recombinant proteins may possess the functions of the original membrane proteins, together with the biochemical properties of the imported fusion tag, greatly enhancing functional and structural studies of membrane proteins. In this article, the latest literature is reviewed in relation to types, applications, strategies, and approaches to fusion tag technology for structural investigations of membrane proteins.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30600004 and 20634030), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2008CB617510), and Scientific Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, the Ministry of Education.

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  1. Department of Biological Science and Biotechnology, Institute of Science, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Hao Xie & Xiao-Ming Guo

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Chen

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Xie, H., Guo, XM. & Chen, H. Making the Most of Fusion Tags Technology in Structural Characterization of Membrane Proteins. Mol Biotechnol 42, 135–145 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-009-9148-x

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