Jacso, T., et al., Characterization of Membrane Proteins in Isolated Native Cellular Membranes by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy without Purification and Reconstitution. Angewandte Chemie, 2012. 124(2): p. 447-450.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ange.201104987
Structural information is key for understanding biological processes. Insoluble proteins, like membrane proteins and amyloid fibrils, are a large class of proteins that are underrepresented in the protein data bank (PDB). As of today, only 7% of all entries in the PDB refer to either a membrane protein or an amyloid fibril structure (membrane protein: 4994 entries; amyloid fibril: 67 entries; total number of entries: 70,303; http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do)..) Given the fact that many drugs target membrane proteins, involved in signal transduction, [1] structural information is highly desirable for a better understanding of the underlying biochemical mechanisms.