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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nanotechnol Rev. 2016 Dec 15;6(1):111–126. doi: 10.1515/ntrev-2016-0076

Figure 3.

Figure 3

(A) Small nanodiscs that have been employed in solution NMR studies. ΔH5, ΔH4H5, and D7 provide discs with smaller diameters that can be used for structural investigation of target proteins (Left Panel). Pictorial representation of larger “MACRODISCS” are shown where the outer annulus is formed by a 14 amino acid amphipathic peptide. These large 30 nm discs have been used to orient molecules for residual dipolar coupling (RDC) experiments (Right Panel). (B) Schematic representation of MSP1D1/D10 with the positioning of prolines and the number of amino acids present in each helix. Pictorial representation of a nanodisc showing the presence of prolines at helix turns (Top Panel). The scheme for incorporation of proline residues to further push nanodiscs to a smaller size is shown. An altered construct D5P, is created from D5 through the strategic placement of additional prolines, increasing the number of individual helices and potentially offering additional turns at proline residues. Each individual helix in the D5P construct is of identical length and is maintained at a size of 11 amino acids, representing the smallest building block in the MSP1D1 construct (Bottom Left Panel). The elution profile from size exclusion chromatography showing that the D5P nanodiscs (green) are approximately the same size as D5 discs (black). Furthermore, D5 and D5P nanodiscs are similar in size to the MSP1D1/D10 discs (brown) (Bottom Right Panel). (C) Alternative nanoscale phospholipid bilayer systems: Saposin-A lipoprotein disc formed by the addition of detergent molecules is shown. Saposin-A in its detergent free form adopts a closed conformation which becomes extended when bound to detergent molecules (PDB ID: 4DDJ). Saposin-A lipoprotein discs, with a diameter of 3.2 nm, are formed where two Saposin-A proteins are brought together by its lipid core (Top Panel). Styrene-Maleic Acid Lipid Particle (SMALP) is shown where the synthetic Styrene-Maleic Acid copolymer forms discs by encapsulating lipid within its central cavity. SMA lipid discs or Lipodisq® have a diameter of 9nm (Bottom Panel).