Mass spectrometry of intact membrane proteins: shifting towards a more native-like context

Integral membrane proteins are involved in a plethora of biological processes including cellular signalling, molecular transport, and catalysis. Many of these functions are mediated by non-covalent interactions with other proteins, substrates, metabolites, and surrounding lipids. Uncovering such interactions and deciphering their effect on protein activity is essential for understanding the regulatory mechanisms underlying integral membrane protein function. However, the detection of such dynamic complexes has proven to be challenging using traditional approaches in structural biology. Native mass spectrometry has emerged as a powerful technique for the structural characterisation of membrane proteins and their complexes, enabling the detection and identification of protein-binding partners. In this review, we discuss recent native mass spectrometry-based studies that have characterised non-covalent interactions of membrane proteins in the presence of detergents or membrane mimetics. We additionally highlight recent progress towards the study of membrane proteins within native membranes and provide our perspective on how these could be combined with recent developments in instrumentation to investigate increasingly complex biomolecular systems.