About CSBMP
Mission
The primary mission of Center for the Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins is to bring together Michigan State University faculty with expertise in membrane protein expression and analysis in order to expand our proficiency and capacity for membrane protein production. This, in turn, will support our long-term efforts to:
- Increase research in the areas of structural biology and biochemistry of membrane protein
- Acquire substantial and long-term extramural funding for the CSBMP
- Focus and sustain biotechnology development at MSU in one of the most commercially promising areas of biomedical and Agricultural research.
Structured Determination Pathway
Background and Objectives
CSBMP is organized to bring together researchers at MSU to address the difficult problems associated with determining the atomic structure of membrane proteins. Such a concerted approach will involve a number of investigators skilled in handling many different membrane proteins, expression systems, and emerging technologies and will aid in producing high quality purified proteins amenable to structure determination. The sharing of information, expertise, and facilities will enhance our understanding of the unique characteristics of membrane proteins and how the widely useful techniques for handling and analyzing membrane proteins impacts the structure determination process. Four general ideas and assumptions form the foundation for the scientific thrust of the center:
- Our central assumption is that different membrane proteins will require different expression systems, and no general system can be expected to be routinely successful. However, must all attempts to overexpress membrane proteins require a "try every system" approach? Rather, are there strategies for matching a particular membrane protein target with the most optimal expression system? This idea drives our initial goal of doing thorough comparative analyses on a broad selection of expression systems and targets for.
- Second, many different expression systems available have not been truly optimized, particularly for membrane protein expression. This idea also drives the broad selection of expression systems for development.
- A third assumption which shapes this effort is that membrane proteins are unique in their structure in that the lipid is not just solvent but an integral structural component in many membrane proteins and may not be substituted without loss of molecular homogeneity and hence resolution. This assumption will be tested by analytical and mutational approaches.
- A fourth and final idea is that appropriate thermophilic eukaryotic organisms may represent an ideal targets for structural analysis. The red algae Galdieria sulphuraria, a thermophilic eukaryote whose genome is being sequenced at MSU, is a rich source of orthologs of important membrane protein families.