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The Significance of Membrane Transport

The Significance of Membrane Transport

The transport of solutes across the cell membrane is essential for metabolic processes, like maintaining cell size and volume, generating the action potential, exchanging nutrients and gases, etc. Membrane transport can be either passive or active. It can be simple diffusion, facilitated, or mediated transport aided by transport proteins such as transporters and channels.
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...

The Significance of Membrane Transport

The Significance of Membrane Transport

The transport of solutes across the cell membrane is essential for metabolic processes, like maintaining cell size and volume, generating the action potential, exchanging nutrients and gases, etc. Membrane transport can be either passive or active. It can be simple diffusion, facilitated, or mediated transport aided by transport proteins such as transporters and channels.
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...

Membrane Transporters

Membrane Transporters

Transporters are essential membrane transport proteins with functions related to cell nutrition, homeostasis, communication, etc. Approximately 7% of all genes in the human genome code for transporters or transporter-related proteins.
Transporters are mainly composed of alpha-helices, built from bundles of ten or more helices traversing the plasma membrane. The solute-binding sites are located midway, where some of the helices are broken or distorted, making space for the binding site through...

ABC Transporters: Exporter

ABC Transporters: Exporter

ATP-binding cassette or ABC transporter is the largest superfamily of integral membrane proteins. The transporters have transmembrane-binding domains (TMDs) and nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs). The TMDs are specific to their substrates, whereas the NBDs are similar to engines that complete ATP hydrolysis to complete the substrate transport. They can be full transporters consisting of two TMDs and NBDs, half transporters with one TMD and NBD, while some encoded with a single TMD or NBD are...

Carrier-Mediated Transport

Carrier-Mediated Transport

Carrier-mediated transport is a pivotal process in drug absorption, particularly for lipid-insoluble drugs, and encompasses facilitated diffusion and active transport. Facilitated diffusion allows drugs to move along their concentration gradient without energy expenditure, while active transport utilizes ATP to drive drug movement against this gradient.
Active transport involves two types of membrane-spanning transporters: uptake and efflux. Uptake transporters are expressed in the small...

ABC Transporters: Importer

ABC Transporters: Importer

ATP-binding cassette or ABC transporters are a class of ATP-driven pumps that hydrolyze ATP to move solutes across the membrane. They can be grouped into importers and exporters. While exporters are present in all domains of life, importers exist only in bacteria and some plants.
In bacteria, based on the number of transmembrane helices and the chemical nature of their substrates, the ABC importers can be divided into three types:

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 27, 2026

High-Throughput Expression and Purification of Human Solute Carriers for Structural and Biochemical Studies

High-Throughput Expression and Purification of Human Solute Carriers for Structural and Biochemical Studies

Published on: September 29, 2023

The Transporter Classification Database: recent advances.

Milton H Saier¹, Ming Ren Yen, Keith Noto

¹Division of Biological Sciences and Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116, USA. msaier@ucsd.edu

Nucleic Acids Research

|November 22, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The Transporter Classification Database (TCDB) now features user-friendly software, enhancing data analysis and discovery of transporter relationships. Machine learning integration streamlines the input of new transport system information.

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Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles

Published on: December 31, 2019

Area of Science:

Biochemistry
Molecular Biology
Bioinformatics

Background:

The Transporter Classification Database (TCDB) is a vital resource for transport system information.
It is based on the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) transporter classification (TC) system.
TCDB currently contains data on approximately 5000 transporters across over 500 families.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce novel software designed to improve the functionality and usability of TCDB.
To enhance data input, analysis, and discovery of phylogenetic relationships within the database.
To expand the scope and accessibility of transport system information for researchers.

Main Methods:

Development of new software tools for TCDB.
Implementation of machine learning for semi-automatic data input.
Refinement of analytical capabilities for increased accuracy and efficiency.

Main Results:

Improved user-friendliness of the TCDB platform.
Successful integration of machine learning for data curation.
Enhanced accuracy and reduced time for data analysis.
Identification of distant phylogenetic relationships among transporters.
Significant expansion of available information for TCDB users.

Conclusions:

The new software significantly enhances the utility of TCDB.
Machine learning integration facilitates efficient data management.
The advancements enable deeper insights into transporter evolution and function.