Andrews Simeon, Reichow Steve L, Gonen Tamir
Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
IUBMB Life. 2008 Jul;60(7):430-6. doi: 10.1002/iub.53.
Aquaporins are a family of ubiquitous membrane proteins that form a pore for the permeation of water. Both electron and X-ray crystallography played major roles in determining the atomic structures of a number of aquaporins. This review focuses on electron crystallography, and its contribution to the field of aquaporin biology. We briefly discuss electron crystallography and the two-dimensional crystallization process. We describe features of aquaporins common to both electron and X-ray crystallographic structures; as well as some structural insights unique to electron crystallography, including aquaporin junction formation and lipid-protein interactions.
水通道蛋白是一类普遍存在的膜蛋白,它们形成了水渗透的孔道。电子晶体学和X射线晶体学在确定多种水通道蛋白的原子结构方面都发挥了重要作用。本综述聚焦于电子晶体学及其对水通道蛋白生物学领域的贡献。我们简要讨论电子晶体学和二维结晶过程。我们描述了电子晶体学和X射线晶体学结构共有的水通道蛋白特征;以及电子晶体学独有的一些结构见解,包括水通道蛋白连接的形成和脂类-蛋白质相互作用。