Transporter Protein Dance Moves

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Animation depicts the changes that allow a protein transporter to do its job.

In this video, Emad Tajkhorshid of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign explains the molecular dance of transporter proteins, molecules that move substances across the cell membrane.

In this video, Emad Tajkhorshid of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign explains the molecular dance of ABC transporters, a family of molecular machines that utilize ATP to move substances across the cell membrane. Tajkhorshid and his team recently used computational methods to map the movements between two known structural models of MsbA, a bacterial version of a transporter in human cells that helps to export anti-cancer drugs. They then described the individual steps of the molecular motions during the transport cycle. Understanding the process at such a detailed level could suggest new targets for treating a range of diseases, including some drug-resistant cancers that often make more transporter proteins to kick out medications meant to kill them.

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Tajkhorshid Lab

2 Replies to “Transporter Protein Dance Moves”

  1. I would like to see a list of the “capital letters” references you people use with an explanation on what they “MEAN”. It is very tiresome trying to read an article and having to “Google” to identify what I am reading about. Certainly decreases my interest in what is going on. I try to read all these kinds of things because I am genuinely interested in the articles. I would like to read them without fighting to understand them!! Thank you for your attention to this matter!

  2. Thank you for the feedback, Mary. We strive to write about basic research findings in an understandable way, and we’ll pay particular attention to how we define terms and use abbreviations.

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