title: Cellular transporters for zinc.
abstract: Nutritionally essential metals such as zinc are moved into and out of cells by a series of transport proteins or transporters. Their tri-fold purpose is to procure zinc from the environment, to protect cells against zinc toxicity, and maintain ample supplies of zinc for metabolic purposes. Two families of zinc transporters are known: the ZIP family that imports zinc and the ZnT family that functions in releasing zinc or sequestering zinc internally.
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Faculty of Nutrition, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843-2128, USA.
authors: Edward D
authors: ED
authors: Harris
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015032:Zinc / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; C498424:SLC39A2 protein, human; D015032:Zinc