title: Structural insights into eukaryotic aquaporin regulation.
abstract: Aquaporin-mediated water transport across cellular membranes is an ancient, ubiquitous mechanism within cell biology. This family of integral membrane proteins includes both water selective pores (aquaporins) and transport facilitators of other small molecules such as glycerol and urea (aquaglyceroporins). Eukaryotic aquaporins are frequently regulated post-translationally by gating, whereby the rate of flux through the channel is controlled, or by trafficking, whereby aquaporins are shuttled from intracellular storage sites to the plasma membrane. A number of high-resolution X-ray structures of eukaryotic aquaporins have recently been reported and the new structural insights into gating and trafficking that emerged from these studies are described. Basic structural themes reoccur, illustrating how the problem of regulation in diverse biological contexts builds upon a limited set of possible solutions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Törnroth-Horsefield
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hedfalk
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lindkvist-Petersson
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neutze
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020346:Aquaporins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001665:Binding Sites; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010766:Phosphorylation; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020346:Aquaporins; D014867:Water