Carbohydrate-containing Triton X-100 analogues for membrane protein solubilization and stabilization.

Membrane protein manipulation is a challenging task owing to limited tertiary and quaternary structural stability once the protein has been removed from a lipid bilayer. Such instability can be overcome by embedding membrane proteins in detergent micelles formed from amphiphiles with carefully tuned properties. This study introduces a class of easy-to-synthesize amphiphiles, which are designated CGT (Chae's Glyco-Triton) detergents. Some of the agents are well suited for membrane protein solubilization and stabilization.