Final Report Summary - MEMFOLD (New approaches to the study of membrane-protein folding in vivo and in silico)
Some 30% of all proteins in a typical cell are integral membrane proteins, i.e. they are integrated into one or other cellular membrane. Their biological and medical importance is underscored by the fact that round 50% of all pharmaceutical drugs currently on the market target membrane proteins. The MEMFOLD project aimed at a better understanding of how membrane proteins are made in cell and how they integrate and fold in the membrane. Thanks to work carried out in the project, we now have a good quantitative understanding of how various features of the polypeptide chain control membrane insertion and how they guide the folding of the protein into its native structure.