Life Sciences Commons^™

Studies Of G-Protein Coupled Receptors Incorporated Into A Novel, Nanoscale, Membrane-Mimetic System, Sourabh Banerjee

Student Theses and Dissertations

From first principles of phospholipid – apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I) interactions, we hypothesized that the amino acid sequence of apo A-I derived from a different species may exhibit improved properties compared to human apo A-I for the purpose of incorporation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) into homogeneous discoidal lipoprotein particles. We generated apolipoprotein A-I DNA derived from zebrafish (Danio rerio) using molecular cloning techniques and optimized a heterologous bacterial expression system, and protein purification and labeling scheme for obtaining high-yields of pure zebrafish apo A-I. We demonstrated that zebrafish apo A-I forms stable, homogeneous discoidal lipoprotein particles, which we termed …