Study of Monoclonal Antibody Aggregation at the Air-Liquid Interface under Flow by ATR-FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging.

Throughout bioprocessing, transportation, and storage, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) experience stress conditions that may cause protein unfolding and/or chemical modifications. Such structural changes may lead to the formation of aggregates, which reduce mAb potency and may cause harmful immunogenic responses in patients. Therefore, aggregates need to be detected and removed or ideally prevented from forming. Air-liquid interfaces, which arise during various stages of bioprocessing, are one of the stress factors causing mAb aggregation. In this study, the behavior of an immunoglobulin G (IgG) at the air-liquid interface was investigated under flow using macro attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopic imaging. This chemically specific imaging technique allows observation of adsorption of IgG to the air-liquid interface and detection of associated secondary structural changes. Chemical images revealed that IgG rapidly accumulated around an injected air bubble under flow at 45 °C; however, no such increase was observed at 25 °C. Analysis of the second derivative spectra of IgG at the air-liquid interface revealed changes in the protein secondary structure associated with increased intermolecular ß-sheet content, indicative of aggregated IgG. The addition of 0.01% w/v polysorbate 80 (PS80) reduced the amount of IgG at the air-liquid interface in a static setup at 30 °C; however, this protective effect was lost at 45 °C. These results suggest that the presence of air-liquid interfaces under flow may be detrimental to mAb stability at elevated temperatures and demonstrate the power of ATR-FTIR spectroscopic imaging for studying the structural integrity of mAbs under bioprocessing conditions.

Advances in Membrane Mimetic Systems for Manipulation and Analysis of Membrane Proteins: Detergents, Polymers, Lipids and Scaffolds.

Extracting membrane proteins from the hydrophobic environment of the biological membrane, in a physiologically relevant and stable state, suitable for downstream analysis remains a challenge. The traditional route to membrane protein extraction has been to use detergents and the last 15 years or so have seen a veritable explosion in the development of novel detergents with improved properties, making them more suitable for individual proteins and specific applications. There have also been significant advances in the development of encapsulation of membrane proteins in lipid based nanodiscs, either directly from the native membrane using polymers allowing effective capture of the protein and protein-associated membrane lipids, or via reconstitution of detergent extracted and purified protein into nanodiscs of defined lipid composition. All of these advances have been successfully applied to the study of membrane proteins via a range of techniques and there have been some spectacular membrane protein structures solved. In addition, the first detailed structural and biophysical analyses of membrane proteins retained within a biological membrane have been reported. Here we summarise and review the recent advances with respect to these new agents and systems for membrane protein extraction, reconstitution and analysis.

Rational Approach to Improve Detergent Efficacy for Membrane Protein Stabilization.

Membrane protein structures are essential for the molecular understanding of diverse cellular processes and drug discovery. Detergents are not only widely used to extract membrane proteins from membranes but also utilized to preserve native protein structures in aqueous solution. However, micelles formed by conventional detergents are suboptimal for membrane protein stabilization, necessitating the development of novel amphiphilic molecules with enhanced protein stabilization efficacy. In this study, we prepared two sets of tandem malonate-derived glucoside (TMG) variants, both of which were designed to increase the alkyl chain density in micelle interiors. The alkyl chain density was modulated either by reducing the spacer length (TMG-Ms) or by introducing an additional alkyl chain between the two alkyl chains of the original TMGs (TMG-Ps). When evaluated with a few membrane proteins including a G protein-coupled receptor, TMG-P10,8 was found to be substantially more efficient at extracting membrane proteins and also effective at preserving protein integrity in the long term compared to the previously described TMG-A13. This result reveals that inserting an additional alkyl chain between the two existing alkyl chains is an effective way to optimize detergent properties for membrane protein study. This new biochemical tool and the design principle described have the potential to facilitate membrane protein structure determination.

Melamine-cored glucosides for membrane protein solubilization and stabilization: importance of water-mediated intermolecular hydrogen bonding in detergent performance.

Membrane proteins play essential roles in a number of biological processes, and their structures are important in elucidating such processes at the molecular level and also for rational drug design and development. Membrane protein structure determination is notoriously challenging compared to that of soluble proteins, due largely to the inherent instability of their structures in non-lipid environments. Micelles formed by conventional detergents have been widely used for membrane protein manipulation, but they are suboptimal for long-term stability of membrane proteins, making downstream characterization difficult. Hence, there is an unmet need for the development of new amphipathic agents with enhanced efficacy for membrane protein stabilization. In this study, we designed and synthesized a set of glucoside amphiphiles with a melamine core, denoted melamine-cored glucosides (MGs). When evaluated with four membrane proteins (two transporters and two G protein-coupled receptors), MG-C11 conferred notably enhanced stability compared to the commonly used detergents, DDM and LMNG. These promising findings are mainly attributed to a unique feature of the MGs, i.e., the ability to form dynamic water-mediated hydrogen-bond networks between detergent molecules, as supported by molecular dynamics simulations. Thus, MG-C11 is the first example of a non-peptide amphiphile capable of forming intermolecular hydrogen bonds within a protein-detergent complex environment. Detergent micelles formed via a hydrogen-bond network could represent the next generation of highly effective membrane-mimetic systems useful for membrane protein structural studies.

Application of Raman Spectroscopy to Dynamic Binding Capacity Analysis.

Protein A affinity chromatography is a key step in isolation of biotherapeutics (BTs) containing fragment crystallizable regions, including monoclonal and bispecific antibodies. Dynamic binding capacity (DBC) analysis assesses how much BT will bind to a protein A column. DBC reduces with column usage, effectively reducing the amount of recovered product over time. Drug regulatory bodies mandate chromatography resin lifetime for BT isolation, through measurement of parameters including DBC, so this feature is carefully monitored in industrial purification pipelines. High-performance affinity chromatography (HPAC) is typically used to assess the concentration of BT, which when loaded to the column results in significant breakthrough of BT in the flowthrough. HPAC gives an accurate assessment of DBC and how this changes over time but only reports on protein concentration, requires calibration for each new BT analyzed, and can only be used offline. Here we utilized Raman spectroscopy and revealed that this approach is at least as effective as both HPAC and ultraviolet chromatogram methods at monitoring DBC of protein A resins. In addition to reporting on protein concentration, the chemical information in the Raman spectra provides information on aggregation status and protein structure, providing extra quality controls to industrial bioprocessing pipelines. In combination with partial least square (PLS) analysis, Raman spectroscopy can be used to determine the DBC of a BT without prior calibration. Here we performed Raman analysis offline in a 96-well plate format, however, it is feasible to perform this inline. This study demonstrates the power of Raman spectroscopy as a significantly improved approach to DBC monitoring in industrial pipelines.

Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane Linker-Bearing Triazine-Based Triglucosides for Solubilization and Stabilization of Membrane Proteins.

High-resolution membrane protein structures are essential for a fundamental understanding of the molecular basis of diverse cellular processes and for drug discovery. Detergents are widely used to extract membrane-spanning proteins from membranes and maintain them in a functional state for downstream characterization. Due to limited long-term stability of membrane proteins encapsulated in conventional detergents, development of novel agents is required to facilitate membrane protein structural study. In the current study, we designed and synthesized tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane linker-bearing triazine-based triglucosides (TTGs) for solubilization and stabilization of membrane proteins. When these glucoside detergents were evaluated for four membrane proteins including two G protein-coupled receptors, a few TTGs including TTG-C10 and TTG-C11 displayed markedly enhanced behaviors toward membrane protein stability relative to two maltoside detergents [DDM (n-dodecyl-ß-d-maltoside) and LMNG (lauryl maltose neopentyl glycol)]. This is a notable feature of the TTGs as glucoside detergents tend to be inferior to maltoside detergents at stabilizing membrane proteins. The favorable behavior of the TTGs for membrane protein stability is likely due to the high hydrophobicity of the lipophilic groups, an optimal range of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance, and the absence of cis-trans isomerism.

Causes of Industrial Protein A Column Degradation, Explored Using Raman Spectroscopy.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are used extensively as biotherapeutics for chronic and acute conditions. Production of mAbs is lengthy and expensive, with protein A affinity capture the most costly step, due both to the nature of the resin and its marked reduction in binding capacity with repeated use. Our previous studies using in situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopy indicated that loss in protein A binding capacity is not the result of leaching or degradation of protein A ligand, suggesting fouling is the principal cause. Here we explore binding behavior and resin capacity loss using Raman spectroscopy. Our data reveal a distinct Raman spectral fingerprint for mAb bound to the protein A ligand of MabSelect SuRe. The results show that the drop in static binding capacity (SBC) previously observed for used protein A resin is discernible by Raman spectroscopy in combination with partial least-squares regression. The SBC is lowest (35.76 mg mL-1) for used inlet resin compared to used outlet (40.17 mg mL-1) and unused resin samples (70.35 mg mL-1). Depth profiling by Raman spectroscopy indicates that at below saturating concentrations (∼18 mg mL-1), binding of mAb is not homogeneous through used resin beads with protein binding preferentially to the outer regions of the bead, in contrast to fully homogeneous distribution through unused control MabSelect SuRe resin beads. Analysis of the Raman spectra indicates that one foulant is irreversibly bound mAb. The presence of irreversibly bound mAb and host cell proteins was confirmed by mass spectrometric analysis of used resin beads.

3,4-Bis(hydroxymethyl)hexane-1,6-diol-based Maltosides (HDMs) for Membrane-Protein Study: Importance of Detergent Rigidity-Flexibility Balance in Protein Stability.

Detergents have been major contributors to membrane-protein structural study for decades. However, membrane proteins solubilized in conventional detergents tend to aggregate or denature over time. Stability of large eukaryotic membrane proteins with complex structures tends to be particularly poor, necessitating development of novel detergents with improved properties. Here, we prepared a novel class of detergents, designated 3,4-bis(hydroxymethyl)hexane-1,6-diol-based maltosides (HDMs). When tested on three membrane proteins, including two G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the new detergents displayed significantly better behaviors compared with DDM. Moreover, the HDMs were superior or comparable to LMNG, an amphiphile widely used for GPCR structural study. An optimal balance of detergent rigidity vs. flexibility of the HDMs is likely responsible for their favorable behaviors toward membrane-protein stability. Thus, the current study not only introduces the HDMs, with significant potential for membrane-protein structural study, but also suggests a useful guideline for designing novel detergents for membrane-protein research.

Modulation of PTH1R signaling by an extracellular binding antibody.

Parathyroid hormone receptor 1 (PTH1R) is a class B G-protein coupled receptor with key roles in bone development. The receptor signals through both the Gs and Gq G-proteins as well as through ß-arrestin in a G-protein independent manner. Current treatments for bone disorders, such as osteoporosis, target the PTH1R but are suboptimal in their efficacy. Monoclonal antibodies represent a major growth area in therapeutics as a result of their superior specificity and long serum half-life. Here, we discovered antibodies against the extracellular domain (ECD) of PTH1R from a phage display library. One of these antibodies, ECD-ScFvhFc, binds PTH1R with high affinity and although it has little or no effect on G-protein dependent receptor signaling, it does reduce PTH1R mediated ß-arrestin signaling. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) demonstrated that the ECD-ScFvhFc binding site overlapped partially with that of the cognate ligand, PTH. The results of this study demonstrate the suitability of PTH1R as a target for therapeutic antibody development.

Development of 1,3-acetonedicarboxylate-derived glucoside amphiphiles (ACAs) for membrane protein study.

Detergents are extensively used for membrane protein manipulation. Membrane proteins solubilized in conventional detergents are prone to denaturation and aggregation, rendering downstream characterization of these bio-macromolecules difficult. Although many amphiphiles have been developed to overcome the limited efficacy of conventional detergents for protein stabilization, only a handful of novel detergents have so far proved useful for membrane protein structural studies. Here, we introduce 1,3-acetonedicarboxylate-derived amphiphiles (ACAs) containing three glucose units and two alkyl chains as head and tail groups, respectively. The ACAs incorporate two different patterns of alkyl chain attachment to the core detergent unit, generating two sets of amphiphiles: ACA-As (asymmetrically alkylated) and ACA-Ss (symmetrically alkylated). The difference in the attachment pattern of the detergent alkyl chains resulted in minor variation in detergent properties such as micelle size, critical micelle concentration, and detergent behaviors toward membrane protein extraction and stabilization. In contrast, the impact of the detergent alkyl chain length on protein stability was marked. The two C11 variants (ACA-AC11 and ACA-SC11) were most effective at stabilizing the tested membrane proteins. The current study not only introduces new glucosides as tools for membrane protein study, but also provides detergent structure-property relationships important for future design of novel amphiphiles.

Foldable Detergents for Membrane Protein Stability.

Detergents are widely used for membrane protein structural study. Many recently developed detergents contain multiple tail and head groups, which are typically connected via a small and branched linker. Due to their inherent compact structures, with small inter-alkyl chain distances, these detergents form micelles with high alkyl chain density in the interiors, a feature favorably associated with membrane-protein stability. A recent study on tandem triazine maltosides (TZMs) revealed a distinct trend; despite possession of an apparently large inter-alkyl chain distance, the TZM-Es were highly effective at stabilizing membrane proteins. Thanks to the incorporation of a flexible spacer between the two triazine rings in the linker region, these detergents are prone to folding into a compact architecture in micellar environments instead of adopting an extended conformation. Detergent foldability represents a new concept of novel detergent design with significant potential for future detergent development.

Foldable Detergents for Membrane Protein Study: Importance of Detergent Core Flexibility in Protein Stabilization.

Membrane proteins are of biological and pharmaceutical significance. However, their structural study is extremely challenging mainly due to the fact that only a small number of chemical tools are suitable for stabilizing membrane proteins in solution. Detergents are widely used in membrane protein study, but conventional detergents are generally poor at stabilizing challenging membrane proteins such as G protein-coupled receptors and protein complexes. In the current study, we prepared tandem triazine-based maltosides (TZMs) with two amphiphilic triazine units connected by different diamine linkers, hydrazine (TZM-Hs) and 1,2-ethylenediamine (TZM-Es). These TZMs were consistently superior to a gold standard detergent (DDM) in terms of stabilizing a few membrane proteins. In addition, the TZM-Es containing a long linker showed more general protein stabilization efficacy with multiple membrane proteins than the TZM-Hs containing a short linker. This result indicates that introduction of the flexible1,2-ethylenediamine linker between two rigid triazine rings enables the TZM-Es to fold into favourable conformations in order to promote membrane protein stability. The novel concept of detergent foldability introduced in the current study has potential in rational detergent design and membrane protein applications.

Glyco-Steroidal Amphiphiles (GSAs) for Membrane Protein Structural Study.

Integral membrane proteins pose considerable challenges to high resolution structural analysis. Maintaining membrane proteins in their native state during protein isolation is essential for structural study of these bio-macromolecules. Detergents are the most commonly used amphiphilic compounds for stabilizing membrane proteins in solution outside a lipid bilayer. We previously introduced a glyco-diosgenin (GDN) detergent that was shown to be highly effective at stabilizing a wide range of membrane proteins. This steroidal detergent has additionally gained attention due to its compatibility with membrane protein structure study via cryo-EM. However, synthetic inconvenience limits widespread use of GDN in membrane protein study. To improve its synthetic accessibility and to further enhance detergent efficacy for protein stabilization, we designed a new class of glyco-steroid-based detergents using three steroid units: cholestanol, cholesterol and diosgenin. These new detergents were efficiently prepared and showed marked efficacy for protein stabilization in evaluation with a few model membrane proteins including two G protein-coupled receptors. Some new agents were not only superior to a gold standard detergent, DDM (n-dodecyl-ß-d-maltoside), but were also more effective than the original GDN at preserving protein integrity long term. These agents represent valuable alternatives to GDN, and are likely to facilitate structural determination of challenging membrane proteins.

Maltose-bis(hydroxymethyl)phenol (MBPs) and Maltose-tris(hydroxymethyl)phenol (MTPs) Amphiphiles for Membrane Protein Stability.

Membrane protein structures provide a fundamental understanding of their molecular actions and are of importance for drug development. Detergents are widely used to solubilize, stabilize, and crystallize membrane proteins, but membrane proteins solubilized in conventional detergents are prone to denaturation and aggregation. Thus, developing novel detergents with enhanced efficacy for protein stabilization remains important. We report herein the design and synthesis of a class of phenol-derived maltoside detergents. Using two different linkers, we prepared two sets of new detergents, designated maltose-bis(hydroxymethyl)phenol (MBPs) and maltose-tris(hydroxymethyl)phenol (MTPs). The evaluation of these detergents with three transporters and two G-protein coupled receptors allowed us to identify a couple of new detergents (MBP-C9 and MTP-C12) that consistently conferred enhanced stability to all tested proteins compared to a gold standard detergent (DDM). Furthermore, the data analysis based on the detergent structures provides key detergent features responsible for membrane protein stabilization that together will facilitate the future design of novel detergents.

Insights into the Role of Membrane Lipids in the Structure, Function and Regulation of Integral Membrane Proteins.

Membrane proteins exist within the highly hydrophobic membranes surrounding cells and organelles, playing key roles in cellular function. It is becoming increasingly clear that the membrane does not just act as an appropriate environment for these proteins, but that the lipids that make up these membranes are essential for membrane protein structure and function. Recent technological advances in cryogenic electron microscopy and in advanced mass spectrometry methods, as well as the development of alternative membrane mimetic systems, have allowed experimental study of membrane protein-lipid complexes. These have been complemented by computational approaches, exploiting the ability of Molecular Dynamics simulations to allow exploration of membrane protein conformational changes in membranes with a defined lipid content. These studies have revealed the importance of lipids in stabilising the oligomeric forms of membrane proteins, mediating protein-protein interactions, maintaining a specific conformational state of a membrane protein and activity. Here we review some of the key recent advances in the field of membrane protein-lipid studies, with major emphasis on respiratory complexes, transporters, channels and G-protein coupled receptors.

A novel high-throughput screen for identifying lipids that stabilise membrane proteins in detergent based solution.

Membrane proteins have a range of crucial biological functions and are the target of about 60% of all prescribed drugs. For most studies, they need to be extracted out of the lipid-bilayer, e.g. by detergent solubilisation, leading to the loss of native lipids, which may disturb important protein-lipid/bilayer interactions and thus functional and structural integrity. Relipidation of membrane proteins has proven extremely successful for studying challenging targets, but the identification of suitable lipids can be expensive and laborious. Therefore, we developed a screen to aid the high-throughput identification of beneficial lipids. The screen covers a large lipid space and was designed to be suitable for a range of stability assessment methods. Here, we demonstrate its use as a tool for identifying stabilising lipids for three membrane proteins: a bacterial pyrophosphatase (Tm-PPase), a fungal purine transporter (UapA) and a human GPCR (A2AR). A2AR is stabilised by cholesteryl hemisuccinate, a lipid well known to stabilise GPCRs, validating the approach. Additionally, our screen also identified a range of new lipids which stabilised our test proteins, providing a starting point for further investigation and demonstrating its value as a novel tool for membrane protein research. The pre-dispensed screen will be made commercially available to the scientific community in future and has a number of potential applications in the field.

Insight into purification of monoclonal antibodies in industrial columns via studies of Protein A binding capacity by in situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.

Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are effective treatments for a range of cancers and other serious diseases, however mAb treatments cost on average ∼$100 000 per year per patient, limiting their use. Currently, industry favours Protein A affinity chromatography (PrAc) as the key step in downstream processing of mAbs. This step, although highly efficient, represents a significant mAb production cost. Fouling of the Protein A column and Protein A ligand leaching contribute to the cost of mAb production by shortening the life span of the resin. In this study, we assessed the performance of used PrAc resin recovered from the middle inlet, center and outlet as well as the side inlet of a pilot-scale industrial column. We used a combination of static binding capacity (SBC) analysis and Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy to explore the used resin samples. SBC analysis demonstrated that resin from the inlet of the column had lower binding capacity than resin from the column outlet. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy with PLS (partial least square) analysis confirmed the results obtained from SBC analysis. Importantly, in situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopy also allowed both measurement of the concentration and assessment of the conformational state of the bound Protein A. Our results reveal that PrAc resin degradation after use is dependent on column location and that neither Protein A ligand leaching nor denaturation are responsible for binding capacity loss.

Structural and functional insights into the mechanism of action of plant borate transporters.

Boron has essential roles in plant growth and development. BOR proteins are key in the active uptake and distribution of boron, and regulation of intracellular boron concentrations. However, their mechanism of action remains poorly studied. BOR proteins are homologues of the human SLC4 family of transporters, which includes well studied mammalian transporters such as the human Anion Exchanger 1 (hAE1). Here we generated Arabidopsis thaliana BOR1 (AtBOR1) variants based (i) on known disease causing mutations of hAE1 (S466R, A500R) and (ii) a loss of function mutation (D311A) identified in the yeast BOR protein, ScBOR1p. The AtBOR1 variants express in yeast and localise to the plasma membrane, although both S466R and A500R exhibit lower expression than the WT AtBOR1 and D311A. The D311A, S466R and A500R mutations result in a loss of borate efflux activity in a yeast bor1p knockout strain. A. thaliana plants containing these three individual mutations exhibit substantially decreased growth phenotypes in soil under conditions of low boron. These data confirm an important role for D311 in the function of the protein and show that mutations equivalent to disease-causing mutations in hAE1 have major effects in AtBOR1. We also obtained a low resolution cryo-EM structure of a BOR protein from Oryza sativa, OsBOR3, lacking the 30 C-terminal amino acid residues. This structure confirms the gate and core domain organisation previously observed for related proteins, and is strongly suggestive of an inward facing conformation.

Transfer of stabilising mutations between different secondary active transporter families.

Integral membrane transporters play essential roles in the movement of substrates across biological membranes. One approach to produce transporters suitable for structural studies is to introduce mutations that reduce conformational flexibility and increase stability. However, it can be difficult to predict which mutations will result in a more stable protein. Previously, we stabilised the uric acid-xanthine transporter, UapA, a member of the SLC23 family, through introduction of a single-point mutation, G411V, trapping the protein in the inward-facing conformation. Here, we attempted to stabilise the structurally related BOR1 transporter from Arabidopsis thaliana, a member of the SLC4 family, by introducing the equivalent substitution. We identified possible residues, P362 and M363, in AtBOR1, likely to be equivalent to the G411 of UapA, and generated four mutants, P362V or L and M363F or Y. Stability analysis using heated Fluorescent Size Exclusion Chromatography indicated that the M363F/Y mutants were more stable than the WT AtBOR1 and P362V/L mutants. Furthermore, functional complementation analysis revealed that the M363F/Y mutants exhibited reduced transport activity compared to the P362V/L and WT proteins. Purification and crystallisation of the M363F/Y proteins yielded crystals that diffracted better than WT (5.5 vs 7 Å). We hypothesise that the increased bulk of the F and Y substitutions limits the ability of the protein to undergo the conformational rearrangements associated with transport. These proteins represent a basis for future studies on AtBOR1.

Conformationally flexible core-bearing detergents with a hydrophobic or hydrophilic pendant: Effect of pendant polarity on detergent conformation and membrane protein stability.

Membrane protein structures provide atomic level insight into essential biochemical processes and facilitate protein structure-based drug design. However, the inherent instability of these bio-macromolecules outside lipid bilayers hampers their structural and functional study. Detergent micelles can be used to solubilize and stabilize these membrane-inserted proteins in aqueous solution, thereby enabling their downstream characterizations. Membrane proteins encapsulated in detergent micelles tend to denature and aggregate over time, highlighting the need for development of new amphiphiles effective for protein solubility and stability. In this work, we present newly-designed maltoside detergents containing a pendant chain attached to a glycerol-decorated tris(hydroxymethyl)methane (THM) core, designated GTMs. One set of the GTMs has a hydrophobic pendant (ethyl chain; E-GTMs), and the other set has a hydrophilic pendant (methoxyethoxylmethyl chain; M-GTMs) placed in the hydrophobic-hydrophilic interfaces. The two sets of GTMs displayed profoundly different behaviors in terms of detergent self-assembly and protein stabilization efficacy. These behaviors mainly arise from the polarity difference between two pendants (ethyl and methoxyethoxylmethyl chains) that results in a large variation in detergent conformation between these sets of GTMs in aqueous media. The resulting high hydrophobic density in the detergent micelle interior is likely responsible for enhanced efficacy of the M-GTMs for protein stabilization compared to the E-GTMs and a gold standard detergent DDM. A representative GTM, M-GTM-O12, was more effective for protein stability than some recently developed detergents including LMNG. This is the first case study investigating the effect of pendant polarity on detergent geometry correlated with detergent efficacy for protein stabilization. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: This study introduces new amphiphiles for use as biochemical tools in membrane protein studies. We identified a few hydrophilic pendant-bearing amphiphiles such as M-GTM-O11 and M-GTM-O12 that show remarkable efficacy for membrane protein solubilization and stabilization compared to a gold standard DDM, the hydrophobic counterparts (E-GTMs) and a significantly optimized detergent LMNG. In addition, detergent results obtained in the current study reveals the effect of detergent pendant polarity on protein solubility and stability. Thus, the current study represents both significant chemical and conceptual advance. The detergent tools and design principle introduced here advance protein science and facilitate structure-based drug design and development.