Lipoprotein of the Outer Membrane of Escherichia coli

Abstract

To those interested in the cytoplasmic membrane of eukaryotic cells, or even in the cytoplasmic membrane of prokaryotic cells, the outer membrane of Escherichia coli may sound like a foreign and an uninviting system to study. The title of this article itself may be just enough to repel these people. In fact, the E. coli outer membrane is a peculiar system in many respects. However, as will be seen in this chapter, the outer membrane offers an excellent system for the study of many of the fundamental questions concerning biomembranes, which are common not only to prokaryotic but also to eukaryotic membranes, including: the functions and structures of membrane proteins; molecular mechanism of biosynthesis and assembly of membrane components; interactions between membrane proteins; regulation of membrane biogenesis; and mechanism of translocation of proteins across the membrane. Progress toward the elucidation of these problems has been considerably more substantial in the study of the E. coli outer membrane system as opposed to studies of eukaryotic membranes. The advantages in utilizing the E. coli outer membrane to examine the problems mentioned above are: (1) The outer membrane consists of few major proteins; (2) it is very easy to isolate these major proteins in large quantities; (3) the functions and structures of the major proteins have therefore been well characterized; and (4) A finely detailed genetic map has consequently been established for E. coli, and many different genetic approaches are thus available for studying the functions, structures, biosynthesis, and assembly of these major outer-membrane proteins.KeywordsOuter MembraneCytoplasmic MembraneComplete Amino Acid SequencePeptidoglycan LayerMajor Outer Membrane ProteinThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.