Solid-state NMR spectroscopy applied to membrane proteins.

One major remaining problem in structural biology is to elucidate the structure and mechanism of function of membrane proteins. On the basis of preliminary information from genome projects, it is now estimated that up to 50,000 different membrane proteins may exist in the human being and that virtually every life process proceeds, sooner or later, through a membrane protein. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy in high magnetic field is rapidly developing into a widely applicable tool to describe the structure and help understand the mechanism of function of a membrane protein. Recent work in applied solid-state NMR spectroscopy crosses the boundary between the biological and the physical sciences, and aims at increasing the predictive range of this biophysical method.