ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters utilize the energy present in cellular ATP to drive the translocation of structurally diverse set of solutes across the membrane barriers of eubacteria, archaebacteria and eukaryotes. In bacteria, these transporters are considered to be important virulence factors because they play role in nutrient uptake and in the secretion of toxins. The advances in st...

Neurotransmitters are released into the extracellular space during synaptic transmission. The actions of these chemical signals are terminated through active uptake by transporters that are located in the plasma membrane of neurons and glial cells. Transporters harness electrochemical gradients to force the movement of transmitter back into cells against its concentration gradient. These protei...

Neuronal and glial isoforms of glutamate transporters show distinct distributions on membranes surrounding excitatory synapses, but specific roles for transporter subtypes remain unidentified. At parallel fiber (PF) synapses in cerebellum, neuronal glutamate transporters and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) have overlapping postsynaptic distributions suggesting that postsynaptic transp...

Sodium is an important cation and has an important role in BP regulation and ECF balance. Kidney plays an important role in sodium balance. Almost 99% of filtered sodium is reabsorbed. The absorption occurs via sodium transporters located in the various segments of the nephron. Each of these transporters has unique features and is blocked by a specific diuretic. The activating and inactivating ...

Pathogens must be able to overcome both host defenses and antimicrobial treatment in order to successfully infect and maintain colonization of the host. One way fungi accomplish this feat and overcome intercellular toxin accumulation is efflux pumps, in particular ATP-binding cassette transporters and transporters of the major facilitator superfamily. Members of these two superfamilies remove m...

Transporters move hydrophilic substrates across hydrophobic biological membranes and play key roles in plant nutrition, metabolism, and signaling and, consequently, in plant growth, development, and responses to the environment. To initiate and support systematic characterization of transporters in the model legume Medicago truncatula, we identified 3,830 transporters and classified 2,673 of th...

A large number of mammalian Mg(2+) transporters have been hypothesized on the basis of physiological data, but few have been investigated at the molecular level. The recent identification of a number of novel proteins that mediate Mg(2+) transport has enhanced our understanding of how Mg(2+) is translocated across mammalian membranes. Some of these transporters have some similarity to those fou...