Scientists have made new breakthroughs in cryo-electron microscopy technology

Cryo-EM three-dimensional structure of5-HT ₃ receptor in real cell membrane environment

Recently, Yuan Shuguang’s research group from the Computer-Aided Drug Design Center of the Institute of Medicine, Shenzhen Academy of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Germany have used real cell membrane cryo-electron microscopy to analyze the high level of the serotonin receptor 5-HT ₃ ion channel.

This work is the first breakthrough to prove that the frozen structure resolved under the traditional artificial cell membrane environment is very different from the real cell membrane environment (the RMSD of the main chain is as high as 33 angstroms), subverting the traditional thinking in the artificial cell membrane or precipitant environment The three-dimensional structure of membrane protein analyzed below is the same as its physiological structure.

Serotonin receptors (or serotonin receptors) are a group of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) and ligand-gated ion channels (LGIC) found in the central and peripheral nervous systems.

This work is the first to analyze the three-dimensional fine cryo-EM structure of the 5-HT ₃ receptor in a real cell membrane environment (PDB: 6Y5A).

At present, the three-dimensional structures of many membrane protein targets are resolved in the environment of artificial cell membranes and precipitating agents.

Related paper information: https://doi.