Membrane Protein Network Expands

Abstract

A Canadian team of researchers reports the first comprehensive survey of interactions between membrane proteins and other proteins in yeast, including many that have never been identified before (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature11354). The interactions of membrane proteins have been consistently missed in previous surveys of protein-protein interactions. Because many membrane proteins are drug targets, the oversights represent a big knowledge gap. The new study, led by Jack F. Greenblatt, Andrew Emili, and Shoshana J. Wodak of the University of Toronto and Elizabeth Conibear of the University of British Columbia, more than doubles the number of known interactions of yeast membrane proteins with other proteins. A key obstacle to identifying interactions of membrane proteins has been getting the proteins out of the membranes, Greenblatt says. The process requires detergents that can solubilize the proteins without disrupting interactions. “You can’t predict which detergent is going to be best for a given complex...