Patent ID: 8088601

Claim:
A system for expressing a membrane polypeptide, the system comprising: a) a recombinant expression vector capable of expressing a fusion protein that comprises i. a solubilizing agent, ii. a functional membrane polypeptide comprising a membrane anchor that comprises an amino acid sequence 1. at least 90% identical to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:7 or; 2. an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:7 having 1 to 4 conservative amino acid substitutions; and iii. a linker that is interposed between the solubilizing agent and the functional membrane polypeptide, wherein when the linker is intact, the functional membrane polypeptide is soluble; and b) a cleaver capable of cleaving the linker to release the functional membrane polypeptide, wherein, when the fusion protein is expressed, the linker can be cleaved by the cleaver to allow association of the functional membrane polypeptide with a membrane.