Porins form aqueous channels that aid the diffusion of small hydrophilic molecules across the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The crystal structures of matrix porin and phosphoporin both reveal trimers of identical subunits, each subunit consisting of a 16-stranded anti-parallel beta-barrel containing a pore ...
Porins form aqueous channels that aid the diffusion of small hydrophilic molecules across the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The crystal structures of matrix porin and phosphoporin both reveal trimers of identical subunits, each subunit consisting of a 16-stranded anti-parallel beta-barrel containing a pore. A long loop inside the barrel contributes to a constriction of the channel where the charge distribution affects ion selectivity. The structures explain at the molecular level functional characteristics and their alterations by known mutations.
Related Citations:
Trigonal Crystals of Porin from Escherichia Coli Pauptit, R.A., Zhang, H., Rummel, G., Schirmer, T., Jansonius, J.N., Rosenbusch, J.P. (1991) J Mol Biol 218: 505
A Common Channel-Forming Motif in Evolutionarily Distant Porins Pauptit, R.A., Schirmer, T., Jansonius, J.N., Rosenbusch, J.P., Parker, M.W., Tucker, A.D., Tsernoglou, D., Weiss, M.S., Schulz, G.E. (1991) J Struct Biol 107: 136
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Structural Biology, University of Basel, Switzerland.
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