Amphipols (APols) are short amphipathic polymers that can substitute for detergents to keep integral membrane proteins (MPs) water soluble. In this review, we discuss their structure and solution behavior; the way they associate with MPs; and the structure, dynamics, and solution properties of the resulting complexes. All MPs tested to date form water-soluble complexes with APols, and their biochemical stability is in general greatly improved compared with MPs in detergent solutions. The functionality and ligand-binding properties of APol-trapped MPs are reviewed, and the mechanisms by which APols stabilize MPs are discussed. Applications of APols include MP folding and cell-free synthesis, structural studies by NMR, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, APol-mediated immobilization of MPs onto solid supports, proteomics, delivery of MPs to preexisting membranes, and vaccine formulation.

Membrane proteins classically are handled in aqueous solutions as complexes with detergents. The dissociating character of detergents, combined with the need to maintain an excess of them, frequently results in more or less rapid inactivation of the protein under study. Over the past few years, we have endeavored to develop a novel family of surfactants, dubbed amphipols (APs). APs are amphiphilic polymers that bind to the transmembrane surface of the protein in a noncovalent but, in the absence of a competing surfactant, quasi-irreversible manner. Membrane proteins complexed by APs are in their native state, stable, and they remain water-soluble in the absence of detergent or free APs. An update is presented of the current knowledge about these compounds and their demonstrated or putative uses in membrane biology.

Amphipols (APols) are short amphipathic polymers that can substitute for detergents to keep membrane proteins (MPs) water-soluble while stabilizing them biochemically. We have examined the factors that determine the size and dispersity of MP/APol complexes and studied the dynamics of the association, taking as a model system the transmembrane domain of Escherichia coli outer membrane protein A (tOmpA) trapped by A8-35, a polyacrylate-based APol. Molecular sieving indicates that the solution properties of the APol largely determine those of tOmpA/APol complexes. Achieving monodispersity depends on using amphipols that themselves form monodisperse particles, on working in neutral or basic solutions, and on the presence of free APols. In order to investigate the role of the latter, a fluorescently labeled version of A8-35 has been synthesized. Förster resonance energy transfer measurements show that extensive dilution of tOmpA/A8-35 particles into an APol-free medium does not entail any detectable desorption of A8-35, even after extended periods of time (hours-days). The fluorescent APol, on the other hand, readily exchanges for other surfactants, be they detergent or unlabeled APol. These findings are discussed in the contexts of sample optimization for MP solution studies and of APol-mediated MP functionalization.