title: Structure and mechanism of bacterial periplasmic transport systems.
abstract: Bacterial periplasmic transport systems are complex, multicomponent permeases, present in Gram-negative bacteria. Many such permeases have been analyzed to various levels of detail. A generalized picture has emerged indicating that their overall structure consists of four proteins, one of which is a soluble periplasmic protein that binds the substrate and the other three are membrane bound. The liganded periplasmic protein interacts with the membrane components, which presumably form a complex, and which by a series of conformational changes allow the formation of an entry pathway for the substrate. The two extreme alternatives for such pathway involve either the formation of a nonspecific hydrophilic pore or the development of a ligand-binding site(s) on the membrane-bound complex. One of the membrane-bound components from each system constitutes a family of highly homologous proteins containing sequence domains characteristic of nucleotide-binding sites. Indeed, in several cases, they have been shown to bind ATP, which is thus postulated to be involved in the energy-coupling mechanism. Interestingly, eukaryotic proteins homologous to this family of proteins have been identified (mammalian mdr genes and Drosophila white locus), thus indicating that they perform a universal function, presumably related to energy coupling in membrane-related processes. The mechanism of energy coupling in periplasmic permeases is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Ames
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000201:enzymology; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins