Study of Membrane Proteins by Single Particles Electron Microscopy Using Detergent, Liposomes and Nanodiscs

Membrane proteins represent between 20 and 30 percent of encoded protein in most genomes. Their functions are capital for the cell surviving and are the target of more than 50% of the modern drugs. However, their structural studies remain challenging. Indeed, less than 1% of the protein structures published in Protein Data Bank are membrane proteins. The main limitation is crystallization difficulty. Meanwhile, single particle Electron Microscopy (SP-EM) is an alternative method especially for large membrane protein complexes. Using SP-EM, membrane complexes can be studied solubilised with detergent but also in membrane mimic systems such as liposomes and nanodiscs.