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Why are polar residues within the membrane core evolutionary conserved?

Kristoffer Illergård1, Anni Kauko, Arne Elofsson

  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Center for Biomembrane Research, Stockholm bioinformatics Center, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

Proteins
|October 13, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Polar residues in alpha-helical membrane proteins are rare but crucial for function. They are conserved due to their buried nature and direct involvement in protein activity, particularly in transporters and GPCRs.

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