Membrane proteins are ubiquitous in biology and are key targets for therapeutic development. Despite this, our structural understanding has lagged behind that of their soluble counterparts. This review provides an overview of this important field, focusing in particular on the recent resurgence of electron microscopy (EM) and the increasing role it has to play in the structural studies of membrane proteins, and illustrating this through several case studies. In addition, we examine some of the challenges remaining in structural determination, and what steps are underway to enhance our knowledge of these enigmatic proteins.
Keywords: Electron microscopy; membrane protein; protein structure.