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Updated: Jun 7, 2026

Controllable Ion Channel Expression through Inducible Transient Transfection
Published on: February 17, 2017
Studies of ion channels using expressed protein ligation
Paul J Focke1, Francis I Valiyaveetil
1Program in Chemical Biology, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Oregon Health Sciences University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
Abstract:
Expressed protein ligation (EPL) is a semisynthetic technique for the chemoselective ligation of a synthetic peptide to a recombinant peptide that results in a native peptide bond at the ligation site. EPL therefore allows us to engineer proteins with chemically defined, site-specific modifications. While EPL has been used mainly in investigations of soluble proteins, in recent years it has been increasingly used in investigations of integral membrane proteins. These include studies on the KcsA K(+) channel, the non-selective cation channel NaK, and the porin OmpF. These studies are discussed in this review.
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