Transport mechanism of the SLC4 proteins—Lessons from recent structural and computational studies
Hristina R. Zhekova, Alexander Pushkin, Weiguang Wang, Liyo Kao, Kirill Tsirulnikov, Rustam Azimov, Natalia Abuladze, Dora Acuna, Z. Hong Zhou, D. Peter Tieleman, Ira Kurtz · 2026
Read Transport mechanism of the SLC4 proteins—Lessons from recent structural and computational studies by Hristina R. Zhekova, Alexander Pushkin, Weiguang Wang, Liyo Kao, Kirill Tsirulnikov, Rustam Azimov, Natalia Abuladze, Dora Acuna, Z. Hong Zhou, D. Peter Tieleman, Ira Kurtz (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13263692.txt.
Description
Cells must keep their acidity steady, and a family of membrane proteins, SLC4, does that work, ferrying bicarbonate and other ions across cell walls. Hristina Zhekova and co-authors review what structures and computer models reveal about how these transporters move cargo. The family appears in animals, plants, and fungi, and its faults tie to human disease and crop growth.
Structures exist for family members caught facing outward, facing inward, and in between. Together they support an elevator mechanism, in which a core carrying ions slides a short distance through the membrane. Models fill in how sequence changes switch the proteins between swapping anions and carrying them with sodium. Binding sites for ions, fats, and blockers are pinpointed, as have partner proteins that shift the shape of one member. Gaps remain: inward-facing views of the sodium-dependent members; the review maps them for future work.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Hristina R. Zhekova, Alexander Pushkin, Weiguang Wang, Liyo Kao, Kirill Tsirulnikov, Rustam Azimov, Natalia Abuladze, Dora Acuna, Z. Hong Zhou, D. Peter Tieleman, Ira Kurtz |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 131 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |