Proteins are central to life. They are a crucial part of all cellular functions. Enzymes, for example, promote specific chemical reactions. Other proteins act as messengers, signal transducers, or transporters. Ribosomes account for more than one-third of the synthesized bacterial proteome, which resides in the cytoplasm are exported to extra-cytoplasmic locations, where the polypeptides attain their natural conformational states. These proteins are secreted to the trans side of the plasma membrane or are membrane-embedded. Many proteins are inserted into lipid bilayer membranes that surround the cell as well as organelles within the cell. Membrane proteins exhibit a wide variety of structural and functional diversity, functioning as enzymes, transporters, channels, and receptors.

This collection brings together a wide range of state-of-the-art techniques that have been built for purification, and characterization of membrane proteins like atomic force microscopy, optical tweezers, förster resonance energy transfer, etc. It will be of interest to researchers who aim to study membrane proteins as well as to people who want to gain expertise in these novel technologies to study other proteins as well, as the protocols presented here are easily adaptable.