Publication Date:
2009-11-27
Description:
FocA is a representative member of the formate-nitrite transporter family, which transports short-chain acids in bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae and parasites. The structure and transport mechanism of the formate-nitrite transporter family remain unknown. Here we report the crystal structure of Escherichia coli FocA at 2.25 A resolution. FocA forms a symmetric pentamer, with each protomer consisting of six transmembrane segments. Despite a lack of sequence homology, the overall structure of the FocA protomer closely resembles that of aquaporin and strongly argues that FocA is a channel, rather than a transporter. Structural analysis identifies potentially important channel residues, defines the channel path and reveals two constriction sites. Unlike aquaporin, FocA is impermeable to water but allows the passage of formate. A structural and biochemical investigation provides mechanistic insights into the channel activity of FocA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wang, Yi -- Huang, Yongjian -- Wang, Jiawei -- Cheng, Chao -- Huang, Weijiao -- Lu, Peilong -- Xu, Ya-Nan -- Wang, Pengye -- Yan, Nieng -- Shi, Yigong -- England -- Nature. 2009 Nov 26;462(7272):467-72. doi: 10.1038/nature08610.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Ministry of Education Protein Science Laboratory, Center for Structural Biology, School of Life Sciences and School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19940917" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Aquaporins/*chemistry/metabolism
;
Crystallography, X-Ray
;
Escherichia coli/chemistry/genetics/metabolism
;
Escherichia coli Proteins/*chemistry/genetics/metabolism
;
Formates/metabolism
;
Liposomes/chemistry/metabolism
;
Membrane Transport Proteins/*chemistry/genetics/metabolism
;
Models, Molecular
;
Molecular Mimicry
;
Mutation
;
Permeability
;
Protein Structure, Quaternary
;
Structure-Activity Relationship
;
Water/analysis/metabolism
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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