This Pfam family represents a conserved domain, which is sometimes repeated, in an anion-transporting ATPase. The ATPase is involved in the removal of arsenate, antimonite, and arsenate from the cell.
The ArsAB pump is able to catalyse the active transport of toxic heavy metal ions out of the cell. Since heavy metal ions such as arsenic are able to bind irreversibly to many enzymes and permanently deactivate them, it is essential for the survival of the organism that such pumps work correctly; inhibition of these pumps in bacteria may therefore be an antibiotic target. The enzyme uses changes in the tertiary structure that occur when ATP is hydrolysed in order to power the transport of the heavy metal ions against the concentration gradient across the cell membrane, and is activated by the binding of metalloids such as antimony (Sb III) to allosteric sites. The transporter is part of a wider family of ATP utilising proteins, all of which display the Rossman fold, including such well known examples as the ABC transporters.
Defined by 7 residues: GLY:A-18GLY:A-20LYS:A-21THR:A-22SER:A-23ASP:A-45THR:A-502