An integral membrane protein
An integral membrane protein (IMP) is a protein molecule (or protein aggregate) that is permanently attached to a biological membrane. Such proteins can only be separated from membranes by detergents, non-polar solvents, or in some cases denaturing agents.
Integral membrane proteins constitute a very significant fraction of proteins encoded by the genome of an organism.
Structure
The three-dimensional structures of only ~160 different integral membrane proteins have so far been determined at atomic resolution by X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance due to difficulties associated with extraction and crystallization. In addition, the structures of many water-soluble domains are available in the Protein Data Bank. Their membrane-binding α-helices were removed to allow extraction and crystallization.
See more
Membrane proteins
Transmembrane domain
Peripheral membrane proteins
References
Literature
Further reading
External links
The human membrane proteome
Membrane PDB
Membrane proteins with known 3D structures
Database of protein orientations in membranes
