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Nanodiscs represent a versatile tool for studies of membrane proteins and protein-membrane interactions under native-like conditions. Multiple variations of the Nanodisc platform, as well as new experimental methods, have been recently developed to understand various aspects of structure, dynamics and functional properties of systems involved in signaling, transport, blood coagulation and many other critically important processes. In this mini-review, we focus on some of these exciting recent developments that utilize the Nanodisc platform., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Membrane proteins are involved in numerous vital biological processes, including transport, signal transduction and the enzymes in a variety of metabolic pathways. Integral membrane proteins account for up to 30% of the human proteome and they make up more than half of all currently marketed therapeutic targets. Unfortunately, membrane proteins are inherently recalcitrant to study using the normal toolkit available to scientists, and one is most often left with the challenge of finding inhibitors, activators and specific antibodies using a denatured or detergent solubilized aggregate. The Nanodisc platform circumvents these challenges by providing a self-assembled system that renders typically insoluble, yet biologically and pharmacologically significant, targets such as receptors, transporters, enzymes, and viral antigens soluble in aqueous media in a native-like bilayer environment that maintain a target's functional activity. By providing a bilayer surface of defined composition and structure, Nanodiscs have found great utility in the study of cellular signaling complexes that assemble on a membrane surface. Nanodiscs provide a nanometer scale vehicle for the in vivo delivery of amphipathic drugs, therapeutic lipids, tethered nucleic acids, imaging agents and active protein complexes. This means for generating nanoscale lipid bilayers has spawned the successful use of numerous other polymer and peptide amphipathic systems. This review, in celebration of the Anfinsen Award, summarizes some recent results and provides an inroad into the current and historical literature., (© 2020 The Protein Society.)

We describe the construction, expression and purification of three new membrane scaffold proteins (MSP) for use in assembling Nanodiscs. These new MSPs have a variety of luminescent properties for use in combination with several analytical methods. "Dark" MSP has no tryptophan residues, "Ultra-Dark" replaces both tryptophan and tyrosine with non-fluorescent side chains, and "Ultra-Bright" adds additional tryptophans to the parent membrane scaffold protein to provide a dramatic increase in native tryptophan fluorescence. All MSPs were used to successfully assemble Nanodiscs nominally 10 nm in diameter, and the resultant bilayer structure was characterized. An example of the usefulness of these new scaffold proteins is provided., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Many highly ordered complex systems form by the spontaneous self-assembly of simpler subunits. An important biophysical tool that relies on self-assembly is the Nanodisc system, which finds extensive use as native-like environments for studying membrane proteins. Nanodiscs are self-assembled from detergent-solubilized mixtures of phospholipids and engineered helical proteins called membrane scaffold proteins (MSPs). Detergent removal results in the formation of nanoscale bilayers stabilized by two MSP "belts." Despite their numerous applications in biology, and contributions from many laboratories world-wide, little is known about the self-assembly process such as when the bilayer forms or when the MSP associates with lipids. We use fluorescence and optical spectroscopy to probe self-assembly at various equilibria defined by the detergent concentration. We show that the bilayer begins forming below the critical micellar concentration of the detergent (10 mM), and the association of MSP and lipids begins at lower detergent levels, showing a dependence on the concentrations of MSP and lipids. Following the dissolution process by adding detergent to purified Nanodiscs demonstrates that the self-assembly is reversible. Our data demonstrate that Nanodisc self-assembly is experimentally accessible, and that controlling the detergent concentration allows exquisite control over the self-assembly reaction. This improved understanding of self-assembly could lead to better functional incorporation of hitherto intractable membrane target proteins.

The interactions between lipids and proteins are one of the most fundamental processes in living organisms, responsible for critical cellular events ranging from replication, cell division, signaling, and movement. Enabling the central coupling responsible for maintaining the functionality of the breadth of proteins, receptors, and enzymes that find their natural home in biological membranes, the fundamental mechanisms of recognition of protein for lipid, and vice versa, have been a focal point of biochemical and biophysical investigations for many decades. Complexes of lipids and proteins, such as the various lipoprotein factions, play central roles in the trafficking of important proteins, small molecules and metabolites and are often implicated in disease states. Recently an engineered lipoprotein particle, termed the nanodisc, a modified form of the human high density lipoprotein fraction, has served as a membrane mimetic for the investigation of membrane proteins and studies of lipid-protein interactions. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge regarding this self-assembling lipid-protein complex and provide examples for its utility in the investigation of a large number of biological systems.

The characterization of integral membrane proteins presents numerous analytical challenges on account of their poor activity under non-native conditions, limited solubility in aqueous solutions, and low expression in most cell culture systems. Nanodiscs are synthetic model membrane constructs that offer many advantages for studying membrane protein function by offering a native-like phospholipid bilayer environment. The successful incorporation of membrane proteins within Nanodiscs requires experimental optimization of conditions. Standard protocols for Nanodisc formation can require large amounts of time and input material, limiting the facile screening of formation conditions. Capitalizing on the miniaturization and efficient mass transport inherent to microfluidics, we have developed a microfluidic platform for efficient Nanodisc assembly and purification, and demonstrated the ability to incorporate functional membrane proteins into the resulting Nanodiscs. In addition to working with reduced sample volumes, this platform simplifies membrane protein incorporation from a multi-stage protocol requiring several hours or days into a single platform that outputs purified Nanodiscs in less than one hour. To demonstrate the utility of this platform, we incorporated Cytochrome P450 into Nanodiscs of variable size and lipid composition, and present spectroscopic evidence for the functional active site of the membrane protein. This platform is a promising new tool for membrane protein biology and biochemistry that enables tremendous versatility for optimizing the incorporation of membrane proteins using microfluidic gradients to screen across diverse formation conditions.

Membrane proteins play a most important part in metabolism, signaling, cell motility, transport, development, and many other biochemical and biophysical processes which constitute fundamentals of life on the molecular level. Detailed understanding of these processes is necessary for the progress of life sciences and biomedical applications. Nanodiscs provide a new and powerful tool for a broad spectrum of biochemical and biophysical studies of membrane proteins and are commonly acknowledged as an optimal membrane mimetic system that provides control over size, composition, and specific functional modifications on the nanometer scale. In this review we attempted to combine a comprehensive list of various applications of nanodisc technology with systematic analysis of the most attractive features of this system and advantages provided by nanodiscs for structural and mechanistic studies of membrane proteins.

A critical step in the activation of integrin receptors is the binding of talin to the cytoplasmic domain of the β subunits. This interaction leads to separation of the integrin α and β transmembrane domains and significant conformational changes in the extracellular domains, resulting in a dramatic increase in integrin's affinity for ligands. It has long been shown that the membrane bilayer also plays a critical role in the talin-integrin interaction. Anionic lipids are required for proper interaction, yet the specificity for specific anionic headgroups is not clear. In this report, we document talin-membrane interactions with bilayers of controlled composition using Nanodiscs and a FRET based binding and structural assay. We confirm that recruitment of the talin head domain to the membrane surface is governed by charge in the absence of other adapter proteins. In addition, measurement of the donor-acceptor distance is consistent with the hypothesis that anionic lipids promote a conformational change in the talin head domain allowing interaction of the F3 domain with the phospholipid bilayer. The magnitude of the F3 domain movement is altered by the identity of the phospholipid headgroup with phosphatidylinositides promoting the largest change. Our results suggest that phoshpatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate plays key a role in converting talin head domain to a conformation optimized for interactions with the bilayer and subsequently integrin cytoplasmic tails., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Membrane proteins have long presented a challenge to biochemical and functional studies. In the absence of a bilayer environment, individual proteins and critical macromolecular complexes may be insoluble and may display altered or absent activities. Nanodisc technology provides important advantages for the isolation, purification, structural resolution and functional characterization of membrane proteins. In addition, the ability to precisely control the nanodisc composition provides a nanoscale membrane surface for investigating molecular recognition events.

The isolation and identification of unknown membrane proteins offers the prospect of discovering new pharmaceutical targets and identifying key biochemical receptors. However, interactions between membrane protein targets and soluble ligands are difficult to study in vitro due to the insolubility of membrane proteins in non-detergent systems. Nanodiscs, nanoscale discoidal lipid bilayers encircled by a membrane scaffold protein belt, have proven to be an effective platform to solubilize membrane proteins and have been used to study a wide variety of purified membrane proteins. This report details the incorporation of an unbiased population of membrane proteins from Escherichia coli membranes into Nanodiscs. This solubilized membrane protein library (SMPL) forms a soluble in vitro model of the membrane proteome. Since Nanodiscs contain isolated proteins or small complexes, the SMPL is an ideal platform for interactomics studies and pull-down assays of membrane proteins. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the protein population before and after formation of the Nanodisc library indicates that a large percentage of the proteins are incorporated into the library. Proteomic identification of several prominent bands demonstrates the successful incorporation of outer and inner membrane proteins into the Nanodisc library.

Soluble proteins are key mediators of many biochemical signaling pathways via direct interaction with the lipid bilayer and via membrane-bound receptors. Components of the cell membrane are involved in many important biological processes, including viral infection, blood clotting, and signal transduction, and as such, they are common targets of therapeutic agents. Therefore, the development of analytical approaches to study interactions at the cell membrane is of critical importance. Herein, we integrate two key technologies, silicon photonic microring resonator arrays and phospholipid bilayer nanodiscs, which together allow multiplexed screening of soluble protein interactions with lipid and membrane-embedded targets. Microring resonator arrays are an intrinsically multiplexable, label-free analysis platform that has previously been applied to studying protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, and nucleic acid-nucleic acid interactions. Nanodiscs are protein-stabilized lipid assemblies that represent a convenient construct to mimic the native phospholipid bilayer, investigate the effects of membrane composition, and solubilize membrane-embedded targets. Exploiting the natural affinity of nanodisc-supported lipid bilayers for oxide-passivated silicon, we assembled single and multiplex sensor arrays via direct physisorption, characterizing electrostatic effects on the nanodisc attachment. Using model systems, we demonstrate the applicability of this platform for the parallel screening of protein interactions with nanodisc-embedded lipids, glycolipids, and membrane proteins.

Nanodiscs have become a leading technology to solubilize membrane proteins for biophysical, enzymatic, and structural investigations. Nanodiscs are nanoscale, discoidal lipid bilayers surrounded by an amphipathic membrane scaffold protein (MSP) belt. A variety of analytical tools has been applied to membrane proteins in nanodiscs, including several recent mass spectrometry studies. Mass spectrometry of full-length proteins is an important technique for analyzing protein modifications, for structural studies, and for identification of proteins present in binding assays. However, traditional matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry methods for analyzing full-length membrane proteins solubilized in nanodiscs are limited by strong signal from the MSP belt and weak signal from the membrane protein inside the nanodisc. Herein, we show that an optimized ultra-thin layer MALDI sample preparation technique dramatically enhances the membrane protein signal and nearly completely eliminates the MSP signal. First-shot MALDI and MALDI imaging are used to characterize the spots formed by the ultra-thin layer method. Furthermore, the membrane protein enhancement and MSP suppression are shown to be independent of the type of membrane protein and are applicable to mixtures of membrane proteins in nanodiscs.

Nanodiscs have proven to be a versatile tool for the study all types of membrane proteins, including receptors, transporters, enzymes and viral antigens. The self-assembled Nanodisc system provides a robust and common means for rendering these targets soluble in aqueous media while providing a native like bilayer environment that maintains functional activity. This system has thus provided a means for studying the extensive collection of membrane bound cytochromes P450 with the same biochemical and biophysical tools that have been previously limited to use with the soluble P450s. These include a plethora of spectroscopic, kinetic and surface based methods. Significant improvements in homogeneity and stability of these preparations open new possibilities for detailed analysis of equilibrium and steady-state kinetic characteristics of catalytic mechanisms of human cytochromes P450 involved in xenobiotic metabolism and in steroid biosynthesis. The experimental methods developed for physico-chemical and functional studies of membrane cytochromes P450 incorporated in Nanodiscs allow for more detailed understanding of the scientific questions along the lines pioneered by Professor Klaus Ruckpaul and his array of colleagues and collaborators., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nanodiscs are examples of discoidal nanoscale lipid-protein particles that have been extremely useful for the biochemical and biophysical characterization of membrane proteins. They are discoidal lipid bilayer fragments encircled and stabilized by two amphipathic helical proteins named membrane scaffolding protein (MSP), ~10 nm in size. Nanodiscs are homogeneous, easily prepared with reproducible success, amenable to preparations with a variety of lipids, and stable over a range of temperatures. Here we present solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) studies on lyophilized, rehydrated POPC Nanodiscs prepared with uniformly (13)C-, (15)N-labeled MSP1D1 (Δ1-11 truncated MSP). Under these conditions, by SSNMR we directly determine the gel-to-liquid crystal lipid phase transition to be at 3 ± 2 °C. Above this phase transition, the lipid (1)H signals have slow transverse relaxation, enabling filtering experiments as previously demonstrated for lipid vesicles. We incorporate this approach into two- and three-dimensional heteronuclear SSNMR experiments to examine the MSP1D1 residues interfacing with the lipid bilayer. These (1)H-(13)C and (1)H-(13)C-(13)C correlation spectra are used to identify and quantify the number of lipid-correlated and solvent-exposed residues by amino acid type, which furthermore is compared with molecular dynamics studies of MSP1D1 in Nanodiscs. This study demonstrates the utility of SSNMR experiments with Nanodiscs for examining lipid-protein interfaces and has important applications for future structural studies of membrane proteins in physiologically relevant formulations.

Phospholipid bilayers host and support the function of membrane proteins and may be stabilized in disc-like nanostructures, allowing for unprecedented solution studies of the assembly, structure, and function of membrane proteins (Bayburt et al. Nano Lett. 2002, 2, 853-856). Based on small-angle neutron scattering in combination with variable-temperature studies of synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering on nanodiscs in solution, we show that the fundamental nanodisc unit, consisting of a lipid bilayer surrounded by amphiphilic scaffold proteins, possesses intrinsically an elliptical shape. The temperature dependence of the curvature of the nanodiscs prepared with two different phospholipid types (DLPC and POPC) shows that it is the scaffold protein that determines the overall elliptical shape and that the nanodiscs become more circular with increasing temperature. Our data also show that the hydrophobic bilayer thickness is, to a large extent, dictated by the scaffolding protein and adjusted to minimize the hydrophobic mismatch between protein and phospholipid. Our conclusions result from a new comprehensive and molecular-based model of the nanodisc structure and the use of this to analyze the experimental scattering profile from nanodiscs. The model paves the way for future detailed structural studies of functional membrane proteins encapsulated in nanodiscs.

Membrane proteins are important pharmaceutical targets, but they pose significant challenges for fragment-based drug discovery approaches. Here, we present the first successful use of biophysical methods to screen for fragment ligands to an integral membrane protein. The Escherichia coli inner membrane protein DsbB was solubilized in detergent micelles and lipid bilayer nanodiscs. The solubilized protein was immobilized with retention of functionality and used to screen 1071 drug fragments for binding using target immobilized NMR Screening. Biochemical and biophysical validation of the eight most potent hits revealed an IC(50) range of 7-200 microM. The ability to insert a broad array of membrane proteins into nanodiscs, combined with the efficiency of TINS, demonstrates the feasibility of finding fragments targeting membrane proteins., (Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Nanodiscs are soluble nanoscale phospholipid bilayers which can self-assemble integral membrane proteins for biophysical, enzymatic or structural investigations. This means for rendering membrane proteins soluble at the single molecule level offers advantages over liposomes or detergent micelles in terms of size, stability, ability to add genetically modifiable features to the Nanodisc structure and ready access to both sides of the phospholipid bilayer domain. Thus the Nanodisc system provides a novel platform for understanding membrane protein function. We provide an overview of the Nanodisc approach and document through several examples many of the applications to the study of the structure and function of integral membrane proteins., (Copyright 2009 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nanodiscs are protein-lipid particles that furnish a nanometer-sized membrane environment for the investigation of membrane proteins. Nanodiscs assemble spontaneously upon the removal of cholate from an initial mixture of cholate, lipids, and engineered amphipathic proteins. A combined experimental-computational approach is applied here to study the disassembly of nanodiscs through the addition of cholate to preformed particles. For this purpose, small-angle X-ray scattering experiments and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were performed and compared. The study offers a detailed view of nanodisc dynamics.

The translocon is a membrane-embedded protein assembly that catalyzes protein movement across membranes. The core translocon, the SecYEG complex, forms oligomers, but the protein-conducting channel is at the center of the monomer. Defining the properties of the SecYEG protomer is thus crucial to understand the underlying function of oligomerization. We report here the reconstitution of a single SecYEG complex into nano-scale lipid bilayers, termed Nanodiscs. These water-soluble particles allow one to probe the interactions of the SecYEG complex with its cytosolic partner, the SecA dimer, in a membrane-like environment. The results show that the SecYEG complex triggers dissociation of the SecA dimer, associates only with the SecA monomer and suffices to (pre)-activate the SecA ATPase. Acidic lipids surrounding the SecYEG complex also contribute to the binding affinity and activation of SecA, whereas mutations in the largest cytosolic loop of the SecY subunit, known to abolish the translocation reaction, disrupt both the binding and activation of SecA. Altogether, the results define the fundamental contribution of the SecYEG protomer in the translocation subreactions and illustrate the power of nanoscale lipid bilayers in analyzing the dynamics occurring at the membrane.

Phospholipid bilayer Nanodiscs are novel model membranes derived from high-density lipoprotein particles and have proven to be useful in studies of membrane proteins. Membrane protein enzymology has been hampered by the inherent insolubility of membrane proteins in aqueous environments and has necessitated the use of model membranes such as liposomes and detergent-stabilized micelles. Current model membranes display a polydisperse particle size distribution and can suffer from problems of inconsistency and instability. It is also unclear how well they mimic biological lipid bilayers. In contrast, Nanodiscs, the particle size of which is constrained by a coat of scaffold proteins, are relatively monodisperse, stable model membranes with a "nativelike" lipid bilayer. Nanodiscs have already been used to study a variety of membrane proteins, including cytochrome P450s, seven-transmembrane proteins, and bacterial chemoreceptors. These proteins are simultaneously monomerized, solubilized, and incorporated into the well-defined membrane environment provided by Nanodiscs. Nanodiscs may also provide useful insights into the thermodynamics and biophysics of biological membranes and binding of small molecules to membranes.

Bacterial chemoreceptors are transmembrane homodimers that can form trimers, higher order arrays, and extended clusters as part of signaling complexes. Interactions of dimers in oligomers are thought to confer cooperativity and cross-receptor influences as well as a 35-fold gain between ligand binding and altered kinase activity. In addition, higher order interactions among dimers are necessary for the observed patterns of assistance in adaptational modification among different receptors. Elucidating mechanisms underlying these properties will require defining which receptor functions can be performed by dimers and which require specific higher order interactions. However, such an assignment has not been possible. Here, we used Nanodiscs, an emerging technology for manipulating membrane proteins, to prepare small particles of lipid bilayer containing one or only a few chemoreceptor dimers. We found that receptor dimers isolated in individual Nanodiscs were readily modified, bound ligand, and performed transmembrane signaling. However, they were hardly able to activate the chemotaxis histidine kinase. Instead, maximal activation and thus full-range control of kinase occurred preferentially in discs containing approximately three chemoreceptor dimers. The sharp dependence of kinase activation on this number of receptors per dimer implies that the core structural unit of kinase activation and control is a trimer of dimers. Thus, our observations demonstrate that chemoreceptor transmembrane signaling does not require oligomeric organization beyond homodimers and implicate a trimer of dimers as the unit of downstream signaling.

One of the biggest challenges in pharmaceutical research is obtaining integral membrane proteins in a functional, solubilized, and monodisperse state that provides a native-like environment that maintains the spectrum of in vivo activities. Many of these integral membrane proteins are receptors, enzymes, or other macromolecular assemblies that are important drug targets. An example is the general class of proteins composed of seven-transmembrane segments (7-TM) as exemplified by the G-protein-coupled receptors. In this article, we describe a simple system for self-assembling bacteriorhodopsin, as a model protein containing 7-TM helices, with phospholipids to form a nanometer-scale soluble bilayer structure encircled by a 200 amino acid scaffold protein. The result is the single molecule incorporation of an integral membrane protein target into a soluble and monodisperse structure that allows the structural and functional tools of solution biochemistry to be applied.

One of the biggest challenges in the field of proteomics is obtaining functional membrane proteins solubilized and dispersed into a physiologically relevant environment that maintains the spectrum of in vivo activities. Here we describe a system composed of nanoscale self-assembled particles, termed Nanodiscs, which contain a single phospholipid bilayer stabilized by an encircling membrane scaffold protein (MSP). Using microsomal membranes of baculovirus-infected Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) insect cells overexpressing an N-terminally anchored cytochrome P450 monoxygenase (P450), we demonstrate that target membrane proteins can be directly solubilized and incorporated into distinct populations of Nanodiscs, which can be separated by size chromatography. We show that formation of these Nanodiscs from insect cell membranes allows for the compartmentalization into soluble nanostructures that provide a natural membrane bilayer that avoids the aggregation of membrane proteins often encountered in other reconstitution procedures. Lipid composition analysis and substrate binding analysis of size-fractionated Nanodiscs arrayed in microtiter plates further demonstrates that the Nanodisc system effectively disperses the overexpressed membrane protein into monodispersed bilayers containing biochemically defined lipid components and the target protein in its native from suitable for sensitive high-throughput substrate binding analysis.

The membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of HIV gp41 is an established target of antibodies that neutralize a broad range of HIV isolates. To evaluate the role of the transmembrane (TM) domain, synthetic MPER-derived peptides were incorporated into lipid nanoparticles using natural and designed TM domains, and antibody affinity was measured using immobilized and solution-based techniques. Peptides incorporating the native HIV TM domain exhibit significantly stronger interactions with neutralizing antibodies than peptides with a monomeric TM domain. Furthermore, a peptide with a trimeric, three-helix bundle TM domain recapitulates the binding profile of the native sequence. These studies suggest that neutralizing antibodies can bind the MPER when the TM domain is a three-helix bundle and this presentation could influence the binding of neutralizing antibodies to the virus. Lipid-bilayer presentation of viral antigens in Nanodiscs is a new platform for evaluating neutralizing antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membrane proteins reconstituted into phospholipid nanodiscs comprise a soluble entity accessible to solution small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies. It is demonstrated that using SAXS data it is possible to determine both the shape and localization of the membrane protein cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) while it is embedded in the phospholipid bilayer of a nanodisc. In order to accomplish this, a hybrid approach to analysis of small-angle scattering data was developed which combines an analytical approach to describe the multi-contrast nanodisc with a free-form bead-model description of the embedded protein. The protein shape is then reconstructed ab initio to optimally fit the data. The result of using this approach is compared with the result obtained using a rigid-body description of the CYP3A4-in-nanodisc system. Here, the CYP3A4 structure relies on detailed information from crystallographic and molecular-dynamics studies of CYP3A4. Both modelling approaches arrive at very similar solutions in which the α-helical anchor of the CYP3A4 systematically stays close to the edge of the nanodisc and with the large catalytic domain leaning over the outer edge of the nanodisc. The obtained distance between the globular domains of CYP3A4 is consistent with previously published theoretical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) play an important role in human health through the metabolism and trafficking of cholesterol as well as providing the feedstocks for steroid hormone biosynthesis. These particles contain proteins, primarily Apo-AI and phospholipid and progress through various structural forms including ‘lipid-poor’, ‘discoidal’ and ‘spherical’ entities as cholesterol esters and lipid are incorporated. The discoidal form of HDL is stabilized in solution by two encircling belts of Apo-AI. Previous protein engineering of the Apo-AI sequence has led to a series of amphipathic helical proteins, termed membrane scaffold proteins (MSPs), which have shown great value in assembling nanoscale soluble membrane bilayers, termed Nanodiscs, of homogeneous size and composition and in the assembly of numerous integral membrane proteins for biophysical and biochemical investigations. In this communication we document a protein engineering approach to generate and optimize an extended polypeptide MSP, which will self-assemble phospholipids into larger Nanodiscs with diameters of 16–17 nm. We extensively characterize these structures by size exclusion chromatography and solution X-ray scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) is a tethered membrane protein which transfers electrons from NADPH to microsomal P450s. We show that the lipid bilayer has a role in defining the redox potential of the CPR liavin domains. In order to quantitate the electrochemical behavior of this central redox protein, full-length CPR was incorporated into soluble nanometer scale discoidal membrane bilayers (nanodiscs), and potentials were measured using spectropotentiometry. The redox potentials of both FMN and FAD were found to shift to more positive values when in a membrane bilayer as compared to a solubilized version of the reductase. The potentials of the semiquinone/hydroquinone couple of both FMN and FAD are altered to a larger extent than the oxidized/semiquinone couple which is understood by a simple electrostatic model. When anionic lipids were used to change the membrane composition of the CPR-nanodisc, the redox potential of both flavins became more negative, favoring electron transfer from CPR to cytochrome P450. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Traditional reconstitution of membrane cytochromes P450 monooxygenase system requires efficient solubilization of both P450 heme enzymes and redox partner NADPH dependent reductase, CPR, either in mixed micellar solution or by incorporation in liposomes. Here we describe a simple alternative approach to assembly of soluble complexes of monomeric human hepatic cytochrome P450 CYP3A4 with CPR by co-incorporation into nanoscale POPC bilayer Nanodiscs. Stable and fully functional complexes with different CPR:CYP3A4 stoichiometric ratios are formed within several minutes after addition of the full-length CPR to the solution of CYP3A4 preassembled into POPC Nanodiscs at 37°C. We find that the steady state rates of NADPH oxidation and testosterone hydroxylation strongly depend on CPR:CYP3A4 ratio and reach maximum at tenfold molar access of CPR. The binding of CPR to CYP3A4 in Nanodiscs is tight, such that complexes with different stoichiometry can be separated by size-exclusion chromatography. Reconstitution systems based on the co-incorporation of CPR into preformed Nanodiscs with different human cytochromes P450 are suitable for high-throughput screening of substrates and inhibitors and for drug–drug interaction studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nanodiscs, phospholipid bilayer assemblies of controlled size, were used to self-assemble bacteriorhodopsin (bR) into single trimers. Self-assembly at optimal bR to Nanodisc and phospholipid stoichiometry yielded particles containing three bR molecules. Analysis of solution small angle X-ray scattering indicated that bacteriorhodopsin is embedded in a discoidal phospholipid bilayer structure. Formation of trimers, as evidenced by visible circular dichroism of the retinal absorbance bands, is facilitated in Nanodiscs at a specific size threshold, suggesting that a critical bilayer area or amount of lipid is necessary to maintain a native oligomeric state. The lipid to bR ratio in the assembly process was also found to be an important factor in determining oligomerization state. These nanoscale bilayers offer the opportunity to understand and control the assembly of oligomeric integral membrane proteins critical to macromolecular recognition and cellular signaling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Blood clotting is triggered when the plasma serine protease factor VIIa binds to the cell-surface protein, tissue factor (TF); the resulting TF:FVIIa complex activates factors IX (FIX) and X (FX) by limited proteolysis. FVIIa, FIX and FX all bind reversibly to membranes via their gamma-carboxyglutamate-rich (GLA) domains, while TF is an integral membrane protein. Removing these proteases from the membrane surface is known to render them thousands of times less active, although the mechanisms by which blood clotting proteins bind to membranes—and the contributions of membranes to catalysis—remain very incompletely understood. Our recent and ongoing studies use a combination of nanoscale membrane bilayers (Nanodiscs), solid-state NMR and all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, enabling detailed insights into how GLA domains bind to phospholipid bilayers and how specific phospholipids enhance the catalytic activity of the TF:FVIIa complex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A prototype nanoparticle biosensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectroscopy was developed to detect drug binding to human membrane-bound cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4). CYP3A4 is one of the most important enzymes in drug and xenobiotic metabolism in the human body. Because of the inherent propensity of CYP3A4 to aggregate, it is difficult to study drug binding to this protein in solution and on surfaces. In this paper, we use a soluble nanometer scale membrane bilayer disk (Nanodisk) to functionally stabilize monomeric CYP3A4 on Ag nanoparticle surfaces fabricated by nanosphere lithography. CYP3A4-Nanodiscs have absorption bands in the visible wavelength region, which upon binding certain drugs shift to either shorter (type I) or longer wavelengths (type II). On the basis of the coupling between the LSPR of the Ag nanoparticles and the electronic resonances of the heme chromophore in CYP3A4-Nanodiscs, LSPR spectrosctpy is used to detect drug binding with high sensitivity. This paper combines LSPR and Nanodisc techniques to optically sense drug binding to a functionally stable membrane protein, with the goal of integrating this with microfluidics and expanding it into a multiarray format, enabling high-throughput screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]