Structural biology of TRP channels

Abstract

Membrane proteins remain challenging targets for structural biologists, despite recent technical developments regarding sample preparation and structure determination. We review recent progress towards a structural understanding of TRP channels and the techniques used to that end. We discuss available lowresolution structures from electron microscopy (EM), X-ray crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and review the resulting insights into TRP channel function for various subfamily members. The recent highresolution structure of TRPV1 is discussed in more detail in Chapter 11. We also consider the opportunities and challenges of using the accumulating structural information on TRPs and homologous proteins for deducing fulllength structures of different TRP channel subfamilies, such as building homology models. Finally, we close by summarizing the outlook of the "holy grail" of understanding in atomic detail the diverse functions of TRP channels. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.