Members of the "Major Facilitator Superfamily" of transporters are ubiquitous membrane proteins responsible for transporting substrates such as metal ions, metabolites and small peptides. The transport mechanism includes three main conformational states, an inward open state, an occluded state and an outward open state. Depending on the direction of transport, these proteins bind their substrate in an open state and, passing through the occluded state, release it on the opposite side of the membrane. This mechanism is called "rocker-switch movement" and is regulated by the formation and rupture of precise interaction networks between amino acids, networks that are widely conserved in the family. These principles will be illustrated in detail using as a model ferroportin, the transporter involved in the iron efflux from eukaryotic cells, and its only known bacterial homolog, recently identified in the bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.
24 maggio
The seminar will be held by Fabio Polticelli of the Dipartimento di Scienze, Università di Roma Tre, Roma, in room C (building CU010) at 12:00.