Nanodiscs for transmembrane protein research | Antibodies.com

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Nanodiscs are nanoscale structures made up of a phospholipid bilayer containing a full-length transmembrane protein, held together by a stabilizing polymer belt. The recent launch of nanodisc products expands upon the existing wide range of high-quality protein and peptide reagents available from Antibodies.com, which includes cytokines, hormones, and enzymes. This launch represents a move towards tackling the challenging field of transmembrane proteins, the demanding nature of which has historically made them difficult to research.

Given that transmembrane proteins represent a large and overrepresented proportion of drug targets, making up just 23% of the human proteome yet 60% of existing drug targets, research into the structure and function of transmembrane proteins is essential for the development of new therapeutics. Transmembrane proteins mediate a large array of cellular functions, such as signal transmission and cell-cell recognition, crossing the lipid bilayer of cells to act as bridges through which the external milieu and cellular environment can interact.

Working with transmembrane proteins, however, can be technically demanding. Conditions that will maintain the proper 3D structure of transmembrane proteins are necessary because their conformation is essential to their function and molecular interactions. Full-length proteins are often required, rendering them more susceptible to degradation, while hydrophobic regions give them a propensity for in vitro aggregation.

Nanodiscs solve many of these issues. Antibodies.com nanodiscs are produced in a mammalian cell expression system and purified in a detergent-free process, ensuring proper folding and post-translational modifications. The full-length transmembrane proteins are therefore in their native 3D conformation within the nanodisc, and, as in cells in vivo, hydrophobic regions stay within the lipid bilayer, which prevents aggregation. The result is stable, physiologically relevant transmembrane protein structures with preserved activity for functional assessment. Nanodiscs can consequently be used in a range of applications to study the function, structure and molecular interactions of transmembrane proteins, including protein crystallization, phage display screening, and chimeric antigen receptor expression analysis.

In addition to nanodiscs, Antibodies.com offers a host of other tools for transmembrane protein research, including virus-like particles, exosomes, and membrane nanoparticles. View all available transmembrane protein products of antibodies.com.