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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...

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:

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...

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...

Facilitated Diffusion

Facilitated Diffusion

The plasma membrane, a critical structure in cellular biology, houses an array of transporters, or carrier proteins, interspersed within its lipid bilayer. These proteins play a crucial role in solute transport through facilitated diffusion, a form of passive diffusion that uses transporters to move the molecules across the membrane.
In this process, substrates such as organic compounds and ions interact with a transporter on one side, triggering conformational changes in proteins that enable...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

Structure and Coordination Determination of Peptide-metal Complexes Using 1D and 2D 1H NMR

Structure and Coordination Determination of Peptide-metal Complexes Using 1D and 2D ¹H NMR

Published on: December 16, 2013

Structure and function of copper uptake transporters.

Christopher R Pope¹, Adrian G Flores, Jack H Kaplan

¹Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.

Current Topics in Membranes

|October 11, 2012

Summary

Cellular copper uptake is vital for cell function. Recent structural studies of copper transporters reveal molecular mechanisms for copper acquisition and distribution, filling a knowledge gap.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 17, 2026

Structure and Coordination Determination of Peptide-metal Complexes Using 1D and 2D 1H NMR

Structure and Coordination Determination of Peptide-metal Complexes Using 1D and 2D ¹H NMR

Published on: December 16, 2013

Characterizing Mammalian Zinc Transporters Using an In Vitro Zinc Transport Assay

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Published on: June 2, 2023

Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry Techniques for Determining the Structure and Mechanisms of Metal Ion Recognition and Redox Activity of Metal Binding Oligopeptides

Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry Techniques for Determining the Structure and Mechanisms of Metal Ion Recognition and Redox Activity of Metal Binding Oligopeptides

Published on: September 7, 2019

Area of Science:

Biochemistry
Molecular Biology
Structural Biology

Background:

Copper ions are essential for cellular function due to their redox and coordination chemistry.
Significant progress has been made in understanding copper homeostasis and cellular copper handling mechanisms.
High-resolution crystal structures of copper-related proteins offer insights into molecular mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To describe recent advances in the structural determination of cellular copper uptake transporters.
To elucidate how emerging structural information enhances understanding of copper acquisition and distribution.

Main Methods:

Structure determination of cellular copper uptake transporters.
Analysis of high-resolution crystal structures.

Main Results:

Progress in determining structures of key copper uptake transporters.
Emerging structural data provides molecular insights into copper transport.

Conclusions:

Structural biology is crucial for understanding cellular copper acquisition.
Further structural studies will illuminate mechanisms of copper distribution.