Biological Membranes: A Molecular Perspective from Computation and Experiment / Edition 1

by Kenneth M. Merz, Benoit Roux

Overview

The interface between a living cell and the surrounding world plays a critical role in numerous complex biological processes. Sperm/egg fusion, virus/cell fusion, exocytosis, endocytosis, and ion permeation are a few examples of processes involving membranes. In recent years, powerful tools such as X-ray crystal­ lography, electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and infra-red and Raman spectroscopy have been developed to characterize the structure and dy­ namics of biomembranes. Despite this progress, many of the factors responsible for the function of biomembranes are still not well understood. The membrane is a very complicated supramolecular liquid-crystalline structure that is largely composed of lipids, forming a bilayer, to which proteins and other biomolecules are anchored. Often, the lipid bilayer environment is pictured as a hydropho­ bic structureless slab providing a thermodynamic driving force to partition the amino acids of a membrane protein according to their solubility. However, much of the molecular complexity of the phospholipid bilayer environment is ignored in such a simplified view. It is likely that the atomic details of the polar head­ group region and the transition from the bulk water to the hydrophobic core of the membrane are important. An understanding of the factors responsible for the function of biomembranes thus requires a better characterization at the molec­ ular level of how proteins interact with lipid molecules, of how lipids affect protein structure and of how lipid molecules might regulate protein function.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468485820
Publisher:	Birkhäuser Boston
Publication date:	06/02/2012
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1996
Pages:	500
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.05(d)

About the Author

Merz, Kenneth M., Jr. (Pennsylvania State Univ); Roux, Benoit (Univ of Montreal)

The contributors represent the specialties of chemistry, theoretical biophysics, molecular biophysics, and physiology. Most are from universities, research institutes, and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., Germany, Canada, Finland, Denmark, and France. Institutions prominently represented include Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Max-Plank-Institut fur Biochemie, Pennsylvania State Univ, Boston Univ, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, and Scripps Research Institute.

Table of Contents

I: Computational Issues Regarding Biomembrane Simulation.- 1. Time Scales of Lipid Dynamics and Molecular Dynamics.- 2. An Empirical Potential Energy Function for Phospholipids: Criteria for Parameter Optimization and Applications.- 3. Statistical Mechanics and Monte Carlo Studies of Lipid Membranes.- 4. Strategic Issues in Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Membranes.- II: Experimental Probes of Biomembrane Structure and Dynamics.- 5. The Liquid-Crystallographic Structure of Fluid Lipid Bilayer Membranes.- 6. Infrared Spectroscopic Determination of Conformational Disorder and Microphase Separation in Phospholipid Acyl Chains.- 7. Membrane Structure and Dynamics Studied with NMR Spectroscopy.- III: Small Molecules and Peptides in Biomembranes.- 8. Movement of Small Molecules in Lipid Bilayers: Molecular Dynamics Simulation Studies.- 9. Structural Basis and Energetics of Peptide Membrane Interactions.- 10. Computational Refinement Through Solid State NMR and Energy Constraints of a Membrane Bound Polypeptide.- 11. Bilayer-Peptide Interactions.- IV: Membrane Proteins.- 12. Peripheral Membrane Proteins.- 13. Thermodynamics of the Interaction of Proteins with Lipid Membranes.- 14. Role of Lipid Organization and Dynamics for Membrane Functionality.- 15. Prediction of the Structure of an Integral Membrane Protein: The Light-Harvesting Complex II of Rhodospirillum molischianum.- 16. Monte Carlo Models of Spontaneous Insertion of Peptides into Lipid Membranes.- 17. Molecular Dynamics of Pf1 Coat Protein in a Phospholipid Bilayer.

Editorial Reviews

3 Stars from Doody

Under the guidance of the editors, an assembly of well-selected authors uses experimental evidence to develop computational models of biological membranes and their subcomponents in this book that describes the static and dynamic structural properties of lipid bilayers, membrane associated, and trans-membrane proteins. The book should provide "a concise overview of theoretical and experimental advances in the understanding of lipid bilayers and protein/lipid interactions at the microscopic level." This is a somewhat misleading description, because microscope techniques are not used in the approaches. The term defines the size range of the membrane elements studied, grossly an area of several hundred to several thousand lipid molecules wide. The book fills a gap in knowledge because most publications in membrane biology deal with either single molecular elements (a protein, a lipid) or functional arrays of biomembranes (gap junctions, focal contact sites, etc.). The selection of coauthors guarantees topnotch analysis and theoretical description of the models presented in the 17 chapters of the book. According to the editors, the book is recommended for a broad scientific community of researchers interested in biomembranes. This is certainly an optimistic view of the matter: the book is written for biophysicists and biochemists with broad-based knowledge in biomathematics, statistics, and advanced structural analysis. Many black-and-white illustrations are computational images of static and dynamic elements with lipids, proteins, and lipid-protein complexes, much supporting the verbal description and the curve plots with the immediate data. The chapters contain many references. Avery brief index is one of the few aspects of the book that could be improved, along with the lack of color illustrations for the molecular model images. The typical reader will be a biophysicist, a protein chemist, or a biomathematician with special interest in the exploration of macromolecular interactions in general and in biomembranes, in particular. In addition, those interested in biotechnological applications will also profit from the knowledge presented here.

Juergen Mollenhauer

Provides an overview of theoretical and experimental advances in the understanding of lipid bilayers and protein/lipid interactions at the microscopic level, with sections on computational issues regarding biomembrane simulation; experimental probes of biomembrane structure and dynamics; small molecules and peptides in biomembranes; and membrane protein. Topics include lipid force field development, Monte Carlo methods, NMR and IR techniques in biomembrane studies, and thermodynamics and structural aspects of protein/peptide interactions. Of interest to molecular biologists, pharmaceutical chemists, and protein chemists. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Reviewer: Juergen Mollenhauer, PhD, DSc (Rush Medical College of Rush University)
Description: Under the guidance of the editors, an assembly of well-selected authors uses experimental evidence to develop computational models of biological membranes and their subcomponents in this book that describes the static and dynamic structural properties of lipid bilayers, membrane associated, and trans-membrane proteins.
Purpose: The book should provide "a concise overview of theoretical and experimental advances in the understanding of lipid bilayers and protein/lipid interactions at the microscopic level." This is a somewhat misleading description, because microscope techniques are not used in the approaches. The term defines the size range of the membrane elements studied, grossly an area of several hundred to several thousand lipid molecules wide. The book fills a gap in knowledge because most publications in membrane biology deal with either single molecular elements (a protein, a lipid) or functional arrays of biomembranes (gap junctions, focal contact sites, etc.). The selection of coauthors guarantees topnotch analysis and theoretical description of the models presented in the 17 chapters of the book.
Audience: According to the editors, the book is recommended for a broad scientific community of researchers interested in biomembranes. This is certainly an optimistic view of the matter: the book is written for biophysicists and biochemists with broad-based knowledge in biomathematics, statistics, and advanced structural analysis.
Features: Many black-and-white illustrations are computational images of static and dynamic elements with lipids, proteins, and lipid-protein complexes, much supporting the verbal description and the curve plots with the immediate data. The chapters contain many references. A very brief index is one of the few aspects of the book that could be improved, along with the lack of color illustrations for the molecular model images.
Assessment: The typical reader will be a biophysicist, a protein chemist, or a biomathematician with special interest in the exploration of macromolecular interactions in general and in biomembranes, in particular. In addition, those interested in biotechnological applications will also profit from the knowledge presented here.

Doody's Review Service