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Updated: Jan 11, 2026
07:31
Native Cell Membrane Nanoparticles System for Membrane Protein-Protein Interaction Analysis
Published on: July 16, 2020
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Dynamic structures of a membrane transporter in native cellular membranes.
Huayong Xie1,2, Yuefang Gan1,3, Weijing Zhao2
1National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, P. R. China.
Science Advances
|November 12, 2025
Summary
This study reveals the dynamic structures of the BjSemiSWEET transporter in native cell membranes using in situ solid-state NMR. These findings advance our understanding of substrate transport mechanisms and cellular structural biology.
Area of Science:
- Structural Biology
- Biophysics
- Membrane Protein Dynamics
Background:
- Substrate transport by membrane transporters is a dynamic process involving conformational changes.
- Studying these dynamics in native cellular membranes is challenging.
- Non-native membrane mimetics can disrupt transporter function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To resolve the structures and dynamics of BjSemiSWEET in its native cellular membrane environment.
- To investigate the conformational transitions during substrate transport.
- To compare transporter dynamics in native membranes versus synthetic bilayers.
Main Methods:
- In situ solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
- High-resolution structural determination (1.5-Å outward-open, 2.5-Å occluded).
- Molecular dynamics simulations.
Main Results:
- Resolved outward-open and occluded structures of BjSemiSWEET in native membranes.
- Identified millisecond-to-second timescale conformational exchange in TM1 and Loop L2-3.
- Exchange rate correlates with sucrose transport rate.
- Observed distinct conformational dynamics in synthetic bilayers compared to native membranes.
Conclusions:
- In situ solid-state NMR provides unprecedented dynamic structural insights into cellular molecular processes.
- BjSemiSWEET conformational dynamics are crucial for sucrose transport.
- Native cellular membranes are essential for accurate representation of transporter function and dynamics.
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