Structure and mechanism of ABC transporters

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are central to many physiological processes, including the uptake of nutrients, the non-classical secretion of signaling molecules and toxins, multidrug resistance and the development of human disease. As one might expect from this spectrum of translocation events, these ubiquitous, ATP-dependent pumps or channels are capable of transporting an enormous variety of substrates, ranging from small ions to large proteins. Recently determined structures of full-length ABC transporters and isolated ABC domains have increased our understanding of the functional mechanism of these proteins.