Book excerpt: This second edition of Membrane Protein Purification and Crystallization, A Practical Guide is written for bench scientists working in the fields of biochemistry, biology, and proteomic research. This guide presents isolation and crystallization techniques in a concise form, emphasizing the critical aspects unique to membrane proteins. It explains the principles of the methods and provides protocols of general use, permitting researchers and students new to this area to adapt these techniques to their particular needs. This edition is not only an update but is comprised mainly of new contributions. It is the first monograph compiling the essential approaches for membrane protein crystallization, and emphasizes recent progress in production and purification of recombinant membrane proteins. - Provides general guidelines and strategies for isolation and crystallization of membrane proteins - Gives detailed protocols that have wide application, and low specialized equipment needs - Emphasizes recent progress in production and purification of recombinant membrane proteins, especially of histidine-tagged and other affinity-epitope-tagged proteins - Summarizes recent developments of Blue-Native PAGE, a high resolution separation technique, which is independent of the use of recombinant techniques, and is especially suited for proteomic analyses of membrane protein complexes - Gives detailed protocols for membrane protein crystallization, and describes the production and use of antibody fragments for high resolution crystallization - Presents a comprehensive guide to 2D-crystallization of membrane proteins