title: Genome archeology leading to the characterization and classification of transport proteins.
abstract: In the study of transmembrane transport, molecular phylogeny provides a reliable guide to protein structure, catalytic and noncatalytic transport mechanisms, mode of energy coupling and substrate specificity. It also allows prediction of the evolutionary history of a transporter family, leading to estimations of its age, source, and route of appearance. Phylogenetic analyses, therefore, provide a rational basis for the characterization and classification of transporters. A universal classification system has been described, based on both function and phylogeny, which has been designed to be applicable to all currently recognized and yet-to-be discovered transport proteins found in living organisms on Earth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology University of California at San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093-0116, USA. msaier@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Saier
mesh_terms: D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020745:Genome, Archaeal; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins