中文摘要：

膜蛋白对于细胞的物质运输、信号传递以及能量转化有重要意义,其研究通常需要大量结构稳定和有活性的膜蛋白。基于内含肽的蛋白质自剪切特性,可以设计自剪切标签以及构建具有特定结构的膜蛋白,为膜蛋白的结构和功能研究提供的新的研究思路和方法。本文对基于内含肽的蛋白质自剪切技术在膜蛋白结构和功能研究中的最新进展进行了简介。

英文摘要：

Membrane proteins interact with biological membranes and perform a variety of functions vital to the survival of cells such as substance transport, cell signaling, and energy conversion. Obtaining large amount of homogeneous, stable and active sample remains a major bottleneck for membrane protein structural and biophysical studies. Self-cleavage characteristic of intein provides a novel way to membrane protein researches. Based on inteins, one can not only design self-cleavage tags to facilitate the purification of membrane proteins, but also reconstruct the structures of membrane proteins to facilitate the expression and functional study of membrane proteins. The focus of this review is on the latest applications of the intein-based technology in the research of membrane proteins.