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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter March 21, 2014

Identification of key residues in the formate channel FocA that control import and export of formate

  • Doreen Hunger , Claudia Doberenz and R. Gary Sawers EMAIL logo
From the journal Biological Chemistry

Abstract

The formate-nitrite transporter (FNT) family comprises pentameric channels that transport monovalent anions. The prototype of this family is the formate channel (FocA), which was originally identified as a formate channel in Escherichia coli. Each protomer in the channel has a pore with structural features that include periplasmic and cytoplasmic constriction sites, which are likely important for bi-directional gating of substrate passage. Highly conserved amino acid residues within FocA previously identified in structural studies are predicted to be important in the control of formate translocation. Here we present a first detailed in vivo analysis of these residues using a combined targeted amino acid exchange and formate-responsive lacZ fusion-based reporter approach. Sixteen exchanges were made and each variant was shown to be largely unaffected in its secondary and quaternary structure. The invariant H209 and T91 residues, which form part of the lower constriction site linking the Ω-loop with the pore cavity, proved to be important in governing the directionality of formate passage through the pore. A predicted salt-bridge triad of E208-K156-N213 along with the cytoplasmically-oriented N-terminal helix are also involved in pH-dependent gating of the channel. Together, our data are consistent with passive export and import of formate or formic acid through the channel.


Corresponding author: R. Gary Sawers, Institute of Biology/Microbiology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Str. 3, D-06120 Halle/Saale, Germany, e-mail:
aPresent address: Medskin Solutions Dr. Suwelack AG, D-48727 Billerbeck, Germany.

Acknowledgments

We thank Lydia Beyer for discussion. This work was carried out in the Graduate Training Group (GRK 1026) ‘Conformational transitions in macromolecular interactions’ and was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Supplemental Material: The online version of this article (DOI 10.1515/hsz-2014-0154) offers supplementary material, available to authorized users.


Received: 2014-2-27
Accepted: 2014-3-18
Published Online: 2014-3-21
Published in Print: 2014-7-1

©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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