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Lipid Cubic Phase Technology for Membrane Protein Structural and Functional Research
Yao Hebang, Cai Hongmin, Li Dianfan*
National Center for Protein Sciences (Shanghai), State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China
Abstract: Composed of a continuous bilayer and two continuous water channels， lipid cubic phase has been proven as a promising method for membrane protein crystallization. Since its introduction into the field 19 years ago， it has contributed to the structure determination for many challenging membrane proteins， some of which has puzzled structure biologists for decades. As such it has become increasingly popular. This review aims to give a basic description to the method and to briefly summarize the advances for this technology. The application of the lipid cubic phase in membrane protein functional assays and refolding is also described.
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