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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles
Published on: December 31, 2019
Protein translocation across the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum and bacterial plasma membranes
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. tom_rapoport@hms.harvard.edu
Abstract:
A decisive step in the biosynthesis of many proteins is their partial or complete translocation across the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum membrane or the prokaryotic plasma membrane. Most of these proteins are translocated through a protein-conducting channel that is formed by a conserved, heterotrimeric membrane-protein complex, the Sec61 or SecY complex. Depending on channel binding partners, polypeptides are moved by different mechanisms: the polypeptide chain is transferred directly into the channel by the translating ribosome, a ratcheting mechanism is used by the endoplasmic reticulum chaperone BiP, and a pushing mechanism is used by the bacterial ATPase SecA. Structural, genetic and biochemical data show how the channel opens across the membrane, releases hydrophobic segments of membrane proteins laterally into lipid, and maintains the membrane barrier for small molecules.
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