Structural basis of an epitope tagging system derived from Haloarcula marismortui bacteriorhodopsin I D94N and its monoclonal antibody GD-26

Emerging affinity methods for protein-drug interaction analysis

The study of protein-drug interaction plays a crucial role in understanding drug mechanisms, identifying new drug targets and biomarkers, and facilitating drug development and disease treatment. In recent years, significant progress has been made in various protein-drug interaction research methods due to the rapid development and in-depth application of mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, Raman spectroscopy, and other technologies. The progress has enhanced the sensitivity, precision, accuracy, and applicability of analytical methods, enabling the establishment of drug-protein interaction networks. This review discusses various emerging research methods, such as native mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and spectrum, biosensor technologies employing surface enhanced Raman, electrochemistry, and magneto resistive signals, as well as affinity magnetic levitation and affinity chromatography. The article also delves into the principles, applications, advantages, and limitations of these technologies.

Protein Fusion Strategies for Membrane Protein Stabilization and Crystal Structure Determination

Crystal structures of membrane proteins are highly desired for their use in the mechanistic understanding of their functions and the designing of new drugs. However, obtaining the membrane protein structures is difficult. One way to overcome this challenge is with protein fusion methods, which have been successfully used to determine the structures of many membrane proteins, including receptors, enzymes and adhesion molecules. Existing fusion strategies can be categorized into the N or C terminal fusion, the insertion fusion and the termini restraining. The fusions facilitate protein expression, purification, crystallization and phase determination. Successful applications often require further optimization of protein fusion linkers and interactions, whose design can be facilitated by a shared helix strategy and by AlphaFold prediction in the future.