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Why Chloride Is Important For The Transport Of Negative Anions Across The Cell Membrane

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Chloride channels are a structurally diverse superfamily of transmembrane proteins that facilitate the transport of negative anions across the cell membrane. These channels are involved in a plethora of physiological processes such as neurotransmission, excitation of skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle, salt transport, cell volume regulation, and acid production in internal and external compartments. Families of these channels include the voltage-gated CLC family, calcium-activated CaCC family, GABAA receptors, glycine receptors, and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). CFTR is an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter that is responsible for proper fluid transport across the epithelial membrane of various cells …show more content…

In the special case of CFTR, a single gene codes for 5 domains of the 1480 amino acid glycoprotein, but homologous halves are linked by a unique regulatory domain (R) that acts as the binding site for PKA giving the domain conformation of CFTR as TMD1-NBD1-R-NBD2-TMD2 (Gadsby et al., 2006). For the movement of ions across the membrane, negatively charged ions, like chloride, accrue near the positively charged ends of the 2 TMDs. The flow of these ions occurs down their electrochemical gradient when the channel opens up (Linsdell, 2005). However, for this to occur, PKA must first phosphorylate the R domain, to allow for the binding of ATP to the NBDs, nestled within a Walker A motif. Once this occurs, the 2 NBDs dimerize causing a power stroke that brings on the conformational change of the 2 TMDs and the opening of the chloride channel allowing for the flow of ions. This conformational change is sustained until hydrolysis of one the ATPs occurs (Furukawa-Hagiya et al., 2013). A graph showing the importance of PKA in CFTR opening and the general mechanism of the channel opening can be observed in figure-1.
The nucleotide binding domain of CFTR contains many conserved motifs found in many other ABC proteins. One of these motifs, the Walker A motif, is the catalytic binding site for ATP. A nearby parallel β-sheet also contains a conserved motif, the Walker B motif. Another motif, important

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