Membrane proteins mediate fundamental biological processes such as signal transduction, transmembrane transport, chemical signaling, and coordination of intercellular interactions. Many plant diseases are associated with membrane proteins. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of membrane proteins is of fundamental biological importance and provides opportunities for improving crop varieties.

However, the highly hydrophobic and amphiphilic nature of membrane proteins results in low expression in natural hosts. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare membrane proteins in heterologous systems or by cell-free expression. CD BioSciences helps customers screen suitable membrane protein expression systems, optimize expression conditions, and perform efficient purification.

Figure 1. Expression and purification flowchart of membrane proteins in bacteria. (Hirschi, S., & Fotiadis, D., 2020)

Service Content

Gene synthesis and cloning service

• Codon optimization.

We use codon optimization algorithms to remove elements that may inhibit gene expression (lethal motifs, splice motifs, and RNA secondary structures) to generate the optimal DNA sequence for recombinant proteins for our clients without altering the protein sequence.

• Selection of expression vectors.

We provide our customers with high-quality vector plasmids according to host type, containing signal peptides or transmembrane structural domains, which contribute to proper membrane insertion and targeting of the target protein.

Membrane protein expression service

Membrane Protein Purification Service

After completing protein expression, we isolate and purify membrane proteins for our customers, including

• Selection of lysis reagents.
• Selection of solubilization reagents.
• Selection of stabilizers.
• Detergent change.

Fusion proteins selection service

Membrane proteins can be difficult to express and purify. One of the most common strategies to solve this problem is to fuse protein tags with membrane proteins. The membrane protein tags we offer include

• Thioredoxin (Trx)
• Maltos binding protein (MBP)
• Glutathione S-transferase (GST)
• Mistic tags

Label removal service

Before structural and functional studies, we can remove fusion tags from membrane proteins. We offer label removal strategies based on protease-mediated cleavage, self-cleavage, chemical cleavage, and in vivo cleavage.

Membrane protein quality control service

We help our clients to characterize and quantify proteins from cell lysates or purified proteins. The protein quantification and characterization methods we offer include

• Mass spectrometry-based protein quantification
• Gel electrophoresis
• Western Blot
• ELISA

CD BioSciences is a biotechnology company focused on plant protein research, providing a variety of related services and products for environmental and energy solutions. If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.

For research use only, not for clinical use.