A view into the blind spot: solution NMR provides new insights into signal transduction across the lipid bilayer

One of the most fundamental problems in cell biology concerns how cells communicate with their surroundings through surface receptors. The last few decades have seen major advances in understanding the mechanisms of receptor-ligand recognition and the biochemical consequences of such encounters. This review describes the emergence of solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a powerful tool for the structural characterization of membrane-associated protein domains involved in transmembrane signaling. We highlight particularly instructive examples from the fields of immunoreceptor biology, growth hormone signaling, and cell adhesion. These signaling complexes comprise multiple subunits each spanning the membrane with a single helical segment that links extracellular ligand-binding domains to the cell interior. The apparent simplicity of this domain organization belies the complexity involved in cooperative assembly of functional structures that translate information across the cellular boundary.