Intracellular proton access in a Cl(-)/H(+) antiporter.

ABSTRACT: Chloride-transporting membrane proteins of the CLC family appear in two distinct mechanistic flavors: H(+)-gated Cl(-) channels and Cl(-)/H(+) antiporters. Transmembrane H(+) movement is an essential feature of both types of CLC. X-ray crystal structures of CLC antiporters show the Cl(-) ion pathway through these proteins, but the H(+) pathway is known only inferentially by two conserved glutamate residues that act as way-stations for H(+) in its path through the protein. The extracellular-facing H(+) transfer glutamate becomes directly exposed to aqueous solution during the transport cycle, but the intracellular glutamate E203, Glu(in), is buried within the protein. Two regions, denoted "polar" and "interfacial," at the intracellular surface of the bacterial antiporter CLC-ec1 are examine

SUBMITTER: Lim HH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3519907 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature