Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
News and Views
Nature 438, 569-570 (1 December 2005) | doi:10.1038/438569a; Published online 30 November 2005
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Methods of Modeling Adaptation in Populations
The analysis of adaptation with a population is a frequently encountered computational modeling scen...
-
Novel Approaches to Protecting Maize from Insect Damage
The Seeker is looking for novel approaches to protecting maize from insect damage. This Challenge re...
nature jobs
University Full-Professor (W3, Tenure Track)
- University of Münster
- Munster 48149 Germany
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Karolinska Institute
- Stockholm Sweden
Cell biology: A greasy grip
Anthony G. Lee1
Abstract
How do the lipids and proteins of the cell membrane interact to create a functioning barrier for the cell? A high-resolution structure of a membrane protein reveals intimate contacts with its lipid neighbours.
The design of a biological membrane is beautifully simple: a lipid bilayer provides the basic barrier, and into this are plugged a variety of membrane proteins. Each protein is designed to carry out some particular function for the cell — moving specific molecules in or out of the cell, say, or sensing the environment.
- Anthony G. Lee is in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 7PX, UK.
Email: a.g.lee@soton.ac.co.uk
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
RESEARCH
Evidence that bone morphogenetic protein 4 has multiple biological functions during kidney and urinary tract developmentKidney International Original Article
Lipid?protein interactions in double-layered two-dimensional AQP0 crystalsNature Article (01 Dec 2005)
Lipopeptide detergents designed for the structural study of membrane proteinsNature Biotechnology Research (01 Feb 2003)

