Alkyl Phosphocholine and Phosphoethanolamine Detergents

The understanding of protein function is greatly enhanced by the availability of three-dimensionalinformation obtained by X-ray crystallography. Unfortunately the large, well-ordered three-dimensionX-ray analyses have been difficult to produce for membrane proteins since they tend more naturally tdimensional arrays. A further complicating factor in dealing with membrane proteins is the requiremesolubilize and stabilize the native structure. Although crystallization of membrane proteins is moreas yet, it is clear that the structure and purity of the detergent are critical factors. In Phase levaluate examples from a series of novel alkyl phosphocholine detergents as well as examples from twphosphoethanolamine detergents. These detergents will be tested for their ability to extract cytochrpermease in active form, and for crystallization of OmpC porin. In Phase II we will synthesize appromore detergents in these three series and the utility of these detergents will be evaluated by theirform three different types of membrane proteins. The best candidates will be investigated for theirmembrane proteins.