Department of Chemistry, Lock Haven University, 301 E. Church Street, Lock Haven, PA 17745, U.S.A.
Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, 6 E. Packer Ave, Bethlehem, PA 18015, U.S.A.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2019 Oct 31;47(5):1489-1498. doi: 10.1042/BST20190375.
Caveolae are 50-100 nm invaginations found within the plasma membrane of cells. Caveolae are involved in many processes that are essential for homeostasis, most notably endocytosis, mechano-protection, and signal transduction. Within these invaginations, the most important proteins are caveolins, which in addition to participating in the aforementioned processes are structural proteins responsible for caveolae biogenesis. When caveolin is misregulated or mutated, many disease states can arise which include muscular dystrophy, cancers, and heart disease. Unlike most integral membrane proteins, caveolin does not have a transmembrane orientation; instead, it is postulated to adopt an unusual topography where both the N- and C-termini lie on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane, and the hydrophobic span adopts an intramembrane loop conformation. While knowledge concerning the biology of caveolin has progressed apace, fundamental structural information has proven more difficult to obtain. In this mini-review, we curate as well as critically assess the structural data that have been obtained on caveolins to date in order to build a robust and compelling model of the caveolin secondary structure.
小窝是在细胞的质膜内发现的 50-100nm 的内陷。小窝参与许多对维持内稳态至关重要的过程，尤其是内吞作用、机械保护和信号转导。在这些内陷中，最重要的蛋白质是窖蛋白，除了参与上述过程外，它还是负责小窝生物发生的结构蛋白。当窖蛋白失调或突变时，会出现许多疾病状态，包括肌肉营养不良、癌症和心脏病。与大多数整合膜蛋白不同，窖蛋白没有跨膜取向；相反，它被假设采用一种不寻常的拓扑结构，其中 N-和 C-末端都位于膜的细胞质侧，疏水性跨度采用跨膜环构象。虽然有关窖蛋白生物学的知识已经取得了快速进展，但获得基本结构信息却更加困难。在这篇迷你综述中，我们对迄今为止获得的窖蛋白结构数据进行了整理和批判性评估，以便构建一个强大而引人注目的窖蛋白二级结构模型。
