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Crystallization of cytochrome bc1 complex

Abstract

A significant fraction of the proteins in any genome are membrane proteins, and membrane proteins are vital to many fundamental processes of life. While many membrane proteins have now been crystallized in three dimensions, membrane proteins have proven considerably more difficult to crystallize than soluble proteins, and some have not yielded after extensive efforts at crystallization, e.g., the mitochondrial adenine nucleotide transporter, the bacterial chemotaxis receptor, and lactose permease.One membrane protein that crystallizes fairly readily is the mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex. This 11-subunit respiratory enzyme has been crystallized in at least eight different crystal forms. We here review conditions that lead to crystallization in various forms, and provide some of the history of our crystallization attempts.

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