Life at the Membrane Frontier

We study the structural and dynamic organization of membrane protein metabolons in model membrane nanoparticles. To define these supramolecular complexes in native-like environments, we reconstitute protein assemblies in lipid bilayer nanodiscs and polymer particles and exploit fluorescence-based approaches at the single-molecule and single macromolecular-complex level. We also investigate how membrane-embedded substrates modulate the biophysical properties of lipid bilayers and how membrane proteins recognize and bind these substrates. We are determining how the membrane architecture of the monotopic superfamily of phosphoglycosyl transferases catalyze phosphosugar transfer to a membrane-embedded polyprenol phosphate acceptor. In our approach, we adapt and integrate synergistic approaches from the fields of biochemistry, biophysics and peptide chemistry to overcome and address the many challenges of studying membrane-associated molecules and macromolecules. In particular we are collaborating with Prof. Mei Hong in the Chemistry Department to apply solid state NMR to our studies on “life at the membrane frontier.