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Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily

SIMPLE SUMMARY: A phospholipid membrane covers all living cells, forming an impenetrable barrier circumvented by solute transporters in the cell membrane. These proteins comprise energy-requiring systems, called active transporters, and those not requiring energy, called passive transporters. The ma...

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Autores principales: Varela, Manuel F., Ortiz-Alegria, Anely, Lekshmi, Manjusha, Stephen, Jerusha, Kumar, Sanath
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10604125/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37887046
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology12101336
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author Varela, Manuel F.
Ortiz-Alegria, Anely
Lekshmi, Manjusha
Stephen, Jerusha
Kumar, Sanath
author_facet Varela, Manuel F.
Ortiz-Alegria, Anely
Lekshmi, Manjusha
Stephen, Jerusha
Kumar, Sanath
author_sort Varela, Manuel F.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: A phospholipid membrane covers all living cells, forming an impenetrable barrier circumvented by solute transporters in the cell membrane. These proteins comprise energy-requiring systems, called active transporters, and those not requiring energy, called passive transporters. The major facilitator superfamily harbors thousands of transport proteins found in all living organisms, from bacteria to humans. Alignments of multiple amino acid sequences uncovered highly conserved sequence motifs are known to play important functional roles. One of these conserved sequences, the antiporter sequence motif or motif C, participates in the molecular mechanism of antimicrobial efflux in cancer cells and bacterial pathogens. The biological implications of the antiporter motif’s functional roles and usefulness are considered here. ABSTRACT: The biological membrane surrounding all living cells forms a hydrophobic barrier to the passage of biologically important molecules. Integral membrane proteins called transporters circumvent the cellular barrier and transport molecules across the cell membrane. These molecular transporters enable the uptake and exit of molecules for cell growth and homeostasis. One important collection of related transporters is the major facilitator superfamily (MFS). This large group of proteins harbors passive and secondary active transporters. The transporters of the MFS consist of uniporters, symporters, and antiporters, which share similarities in structures, predicted mechanism of transport, and highly conserved amino acid sequence motifs. In particular, the antiporter motif, called motif C, is found primarily in antiporters of the MFS. The antiporter motif’s molecular elements mediate conformational changes and other molecular physiological roles during substrate transport across the membrane. This review article traces the history of the antiporter motif. It summarizes the physiological evidence reported that supports these biological roles.
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spelling pubmed-106041252023-10-28 Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily Varela, Manuel F. Ortiz-Alegria, Anely Lekshmi, Manjusha Stephen, Jerusha Kumar, Sanath Biology (Basel) Review SIMPLE SUMMARY: A phospholipid membrane covers all living cells, forming an impenetrable barrier circumvented by solute transporters in the cell membrane. These proteins comprise energy-requiring systems, called active transporters, and those not requiring energy, called passive transporters. The major facilitator superfamily harbors thousands of transport proteins found in all living organisms, from bacteria to humans. Alignments of multiple amino acid sequences uncovered highly conserved sequence motifs are known to play important functional roles. One of these conserved sequences, the antiporter sequence motif or motif C, participates in the molecular mechanism of antimicrobial efflux in cancer cells and bacterial pathogens. The biological implications of the antiporter motif’s functional roles and usefulness are considered here. ABSTRACT: The biological membrane surrounding all living cells forms a hydrophobic barrier to the passage of biologically important molecules. Integral membrane proteins called transporters circumvent the cellular barrier and transport molecules across the cell membrane. These molecular transporters enable the uptake and exit of molecules for cell growth and homeostasis. One important collection of related transporters is the major facilitator superfamily (MFS). This large group of proteins harbors passive and secondary active transporters. The transporters of the MFS consist of uniporters, symporters, and antiporters, which share similarities in structures, predicted mechanism of transport, and highly conserved amino acid sequence motifs. In particular, the antiporter motif, called motif C, is found primarily in antiporters of the MFS. The antiporter motif’s molecular elements mediate conformational changes and other molecular physiological roles during substrate transport across the membrane. This review article traces the history of the antiporter motif. It summarizes the physiological evidence reported that supports these biological roles. MDPI 2023-10-16 /pmc/articles/PMC10604125/ /pubmed/37887046 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology12101336 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Varela, Manuel F.
Ortiz-Alegria, Anely
Lekshmi, Manjusha
Stephen, Jerusha
Kumar, Sanath
Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily
title Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily
title_full Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily
title_fullStr Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily
title_full_unstemmed Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily
title_short Functional Roles of the Conserved Amino Acid Sequence Motif C, the Antiporter Motif, in Membrane Transporters of the Major Facilitator Superfamily
title_sort functional roles of the conserved amino acid sequence motif c, the antiporter motif, in membrane transporters of the major facilitator superfamily
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10604125/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37887046
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology12101336
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