3rlb

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Energy coupling factor (ECF) transporters are used for the uptake of vitamins in Prokarya. They consist of an integral membrane protein that confers substrate specificity (the S-component) and an energizing module that is related to ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. S-components for different substrates often do not share detectable sequence similarity but interact with the same energizing module. Here we present the crystal structure of the thiamine-specific S-component ThiT from Lactococcus lactis at 2.0 A. Extensive protein-substrate interactions explain its high binding affinity for thiamine (K(d) ~10(-10) M). ThiT has a fold similar to that of the riboflavin-specific S-component RibU, with which it shares only 14% sequence identity. Two alanines in a conserved motif (AxxxA) located on the membrane-embedded surface of the S-components mediate the interaction with the energizing module. Based on these findings, we propose a general transport mechanism for ECF transporters.

The structural basis of modularity in ECF-type ABC transporters.,Erkens GB, Berntsson RP, Fulyani F, Majsnerowska M, Vujicic-Zagar A, Ter Beek J, Poolman B, Slotboom DJ Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2011 Jun 26;18(7):755-60. doi: 10.1038/nsmb.2073. PMID:21706007^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.