Substituted cysteine accessibility method SCAM

Several laboratories have replaced consecutive amino acids with cysteine residues as part of a technique called the substituted cysteine accessibility method (SCAM) (Akabas et al., 1992). In this technique, which is described elsewhere in this volume, the accessibihty of the inserted cysteine residues to an aqueous environment is measured by their accessibihty to covalent chemical modifying agents. The effects of the addition of these bulky agents can then be used to explore protein functional domains such as those that line ion channels or ligand binding sites. 

Bogdanov, M., Zhang, W., Xie, J. and Dowhan, W., Transmembrane protein topology mapping by the substituted cysteine accessibility method (SCAM(TM)) apphcation to lipid-specific membrane protein topogenesis. Methods 36 (2005) 148-171. 

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