Publication:

Pore-forming colicins and their relatives (2001)

Author(s): Lakey JH, Slatin SL

    Abstract: The pore-forming colicins, the first proteins that were capable of forming voltage-dependent ion channels to be sequenced, have turned out to be both less tractable and more mysterious than imagined; yet they have proved interesting at every step of their short journey from producing cell to vanquished target cell. Starting out as a remarkably extended water-soluble protein, the colicin molecule is designed to interact simultaneously with several components of the complex membrane of the target cell, transform itself into a membrane protein, and become an ion channel with inscrutable properties. Unraveling how it does all this appears to be leading us into the dark recesses of protein/protein and protein/membrane interaction, where lurk fundamental processes reluctantly waiting to be revealed.

      • Journal: Current topics in Microbiology and Immunology
      • Volume: 257
      • Pages: 131-161
      • Publisher: Springer New York LLC
      • Publication type: Article
      • Bibliographic status: Published
      Staff

      Professor Jeremy Lakey
      Professor of Structural Biochemistry