Stephen H White

Gunnar von Heijne

Donald M Engelman

The central themes of Cell Boundaries concern the structural and organizational principles underlying cell membranes, and how these principles enable function. By building a biological and biophysical foundation for understanding the organization of lipids in bilayers and the folding, assembly, stability, and function of membrane proteins, the book aims to broaden the knowledge of bioscience students to include the basic physics and physical chemistry that inform us about membranes. In doing so, it is hoped that physics students will find familiar territory that will lead them to an interest in biology. Our progress toward understanding membranes and membrane proteins depends strongly upon the concerted use of both biology and physics. It is important for students to know not only what we know, but how we have come to know it, so Cell Boundaries endeavours to bring out the history behind the central discoveries, especially in the early chapters, where the foundation is laid for later chapters. Science is far more interesting if, as students, we can appreciate and share in the adventures—and misadventures—of discovering new scientific knowledge. Cell Boundaries was written with advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in the biological and physical sciences in mind, though this textbook will likely have appeal to researchers and other academics as well. Highlights the history of important central discoveries Early chapters lay the foundation for later chapters to build on, so knowledge is amassed High-quality line diagrams illustrate key concepts and illuminate molecular mechanisms Box features and spreads expand on topics in main text, including histories of discoveries, special techniques, and applications

How Membranes and Their Proteins Work

Cell Boundaries

Studies of receptors, ion channels, and other membrane proteins require a solid understanding of the structural principles of these important biomolecules. Membrane protein structure is, however, a very challenging field. The structures of only three types of transmembrane proteins have been determined to moderate or high resolution during the last two decades, a period during which the amino acid sequences of hundreds, if not thousands, of membrane proteins have been reported. As a result, the creation of structural models to serve as guides for studies of receptors, channels, and other membrane proteins has become crucially important. This book has been assembled in order to share the experiences and findings of expert researchers in protein structure and structure-prediction methods as well as membrane biophysics and lipid physical chemistry, whose work establishes the basis for the development of suitable model structures. The reviews presented here emphasize fundamental ideas and provide an entry to the diverse and complex literature. The four major sections deal with the general nature of the membrane protein structure problem, biochemical and molecular biological approaches to protein topology, direct structural methods, and model and physicochemical approaches. The work will be of interest to physiologists, cellular and molecular biologists, biophysicists, and biochemists working on the function of membrane proteins such as receptors, ion channels, and transporters, as well as senior graduate students and independent investigators.

Stephen H White

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