Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

PROTEIN DESIGN

Changing channels

Nature Chemistry volume 13, pages 621–623 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Designing membrane proteins that function as ion channels is challenging. Now, peptides that self-assemble into water-soluble α-helical barrels have been repurposed to form ion channels in membranes by lining the interior with polar residues and the exterior with hydrophobic ones.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Engineering transmembrane ion-channel peptides.

References

  1. Rees, D. C., DeAntonio, L. & Eisenberg, D. Science 245, 510–513 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Mitra, K., Steitz, T. A. & Engelman, D. M. Protein Eng. Des. Sel. 15, 485–492 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Slovic, A. M., Kono, H., Lear, J. D., Saven, J. G. & DeGrado, W. F. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 1828–1833 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Perez-Aguilar, J. M. et al. PLoS ONE 8, e66009 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Qing, R. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116, 25668–25676 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lupas, A. N. & Bassler, J. Trends Biochem. Sci. 42, 130–140 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. ElGamacy, M. & Hernandez Alvarez, B. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 68, 224–234 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Thomson, A. R. et al. Science 346, 485–488 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Thomas, F. et al. ACS Synth. Biol. 7, 1808–1816 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Burton, A. J., Thomson, A. R., Dawson, W. M., Brady, R. L. & Woolfson, D. N. Nat. Chem. 8, 837–844 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Mahendran, K. R. et al. Nat. Chem. 9, 411–419 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Xu, C. et al. Nature 585, 129–134 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Krishnan, R. S. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 2949–2959 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Dawson, W. M. et al. Chem. Sci. 12, 6923–6928 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Giovanna Ghirlanda

Authors
  1. Giovanna Ghirlanda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanna Ghirlanda.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ghirlanda, G. Changing channels. Nat. Chem. 13, 621–623 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00738-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00738-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing