Biomaterial Database

Mechanical Unfolding and Refolding of Single Membrane Proteins by Atomic Force Microscopy. 2020

Noah Ritzmann, and Johannes Thoma

Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Basel, Switzerland.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single-molecule force spectroscopy allows direct physical manipulation of single membrane proteins under near-physiological conditions. It can be applied to study mechanical properties and molecular interactions as well as unfolding and folding pathways of membrane proteins. Here, we describe the basic procedure to study membrane proteins by single-molecule force spectroscopy and discuss general requirements of the experimental setup as well as common pitfalls typically encountered when working with membrane proteins in AFM.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008565	Membrane Proteins	Proteins which are found in membranes including cellular and intracellular membranes. They consist of two types, peripheral and integral proteins. They include most membrane-associated enzymes, antigenic proteins, transport proteins, and drug, hormone, and lectin receptors.	Cell Membrane Protein,Cell Membrane Proteins,Cell Surface Protein,Cell Surface Proteins,Integral Membrane Proteins,Membrane-Associated Protein,Surface Protein,Surface Proteins,Integral Membrane Protein,Membrane Protein,Membrane-Associated Proteins,Membrane Associated Protein,Membrane Associated Proteins,Membrane Protein, Cell,Membrane Protein, Integral,Membrane Proteins, Integral,Protein, Cell Membrane,Protein, Cell Surface,Protein, Integral Membrane,Protein, Membrane,Protein, Membrane-Associated,Protein, Surface,Proteins, Cell Membrane,Proteins, Cell Surface,Proteins, Integral Membrane,Proteins, Membrane,Proteins, Membrane-Associated,Proteins, Surface,Surface Protein, Cell
D011510	Proteolipids	Protein-lipid combinations abundant in brain tissue, but also present in a wide variety of animal and plant tissues. In contrast to lipoproteins, they are insoluble in water, but soluble in a chloroform-methanol mixture. The protein moiety has a high content of hydrophobic amino acids. The associated lipids consist of a mixture of GLYCEROPHOSPHATES; CEREBROSIDES; and SULFOGLYCOSPHINGOLIPIDS; while lipoproteins contain PHOSPHOLIPIDS; CHOLESTEROL; and TRIGLYCERIDES.
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000072760	Single Molecule Imaging	High resolution imaging techniques that allow visualization of individual molecules of proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids within cells or tissues.	Single Molecule Analysis,Single Molecule Tracking,Single Particle Analysis,Single Particle Imaging,Single Particle Microscopy,Single Particle Spectroscopy,Single Particle Tracking,Single Molecule Microscopy,Single Molecule Spectroscopy,Analyses, Single Particle,Analysis, Single Molecule,Analysis, Single Particle,Imaging, Single Molecule,Imaging, Single Particle,Microscopies, Single Particle,Microscopy, Single Molecule,Microscopy, Single Particle,Particle Tracking, Single,Single Molecule Analyses,Single Particle Analyses,Single Particle Microscopies,Single Particle Spectroscopies,Single Particle Trackings,Spectroscopy, Single Molecule,Spectroscopy, Single Particle,Tracking, Single Molecule,Tracking, Single Particle
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001436	Bacteriorhodopsins	Rhodopsins found in the PURPLE MEMBRANE of halophilic archaea such as HALOBACTERIUM HALOBIUM. Bacteriorhodopsins function as an energy transducers, converting light energy into electrochemical energy via PROTON PUMPS.	Bacteriorhodopsin
D013314	Stress, Mechanical	A purely physical condition which exists within any material because of strain or deformation by external forces or by non-uniform thermal expansion; expressed quantitatively in units of force per unit area.	Mechanical Stress,Mechanical Stresses,Stresses, Mechanical
D055595	Mechanical Phenomena	The properties and processes of materials that affect their behavior under force.	Mechanical Concepts,Mechanical Processes,Mechanical Phenomenon,Mechanical Process,Concept, Mechanical,Concepts, Mechanical,Mechanical Concept,Phenomena, Mechanical,Phenomenon, Mechanical,Process, Mechanical,Processes, Mechanical
D058767	Protein Unfolding	Conformational transitions of the shape of a protein to various unfolded states.	Unfolding, Protein
D058849	Protein Refolding	Conformational transitions of a protein from unfolded states (after PROTEIN UNFOLDING) to a more folded state.	Refolding, Protein