Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

Combining Footprinting Mass Spectrometry And Molecular Dynamics Simulation For Structural Studies In Membrane Proteins, Fengbo Zhou

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Membrane proteins are essential in many cellular processes and represent ~60% of all current drug targets. Due to technical limits, membrane proteins of various types were not studied extensively in the past and the biochemistry and functionality of them remain unclear. The structural biology methodologies require pure isolated protein samples for us to resolve their structure and study their biochemical functions. For such in vitro studies, however, membrane proteins often become unstable when isolated from their native lipid bilayer environment. To overcome the challenge, I employed a novel methodology of solubilizing membrane proteins in solution without detergent. I reconstituted ferroportin, …