Structural modeling of membrane transporter proteins

Abstract: A fundamental process of all living organisms - the transport of molecules across cellular membranes through membrane transport proteins - is investigated.After a brief review of general properties of biological membranes follows a recollection of the major methods of membrane transport that Nature utilizes (Chapter 1). This is followed by a description of important experimental (Chapter 2) and theoretical methods (Chapter 3) for structural studies of membrane proteins. The findings on membrane protein transport in papers I-IV are then summarized (Chapter 4) and important findings are discussed. The remaining text is a discussion on relevant theoretical and experimental methods.