8e34

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Anion exchanger 1 (AE1, band 3) is a major membrane protein of red blood cells and plays a key role in acid-base homeostasis, urine acidification, red blood cell shape regulation, and removal of carbon dioxide during respiration. Though structures of the transmembrane domain (TMD) of three SLC4 transporters, including AE1, have been resolved previously in their outward-facing (OF) state, no mammalian SLC4 structure has been reported in the inward-facing (IF) conformation. Here we present the cryoEM structures of full-length bovine AE1 with its TMD captured in both IF and OF conformations. Remarkably, both IF-IF homodimers and IF-OF heterodimers were detected. The IF structures feature downward movement in the core domain with significant unexpected elongation of TM11. Molecular modeling and structure guided mutagenesis confirmed the functional significance of residues involved in TM11 elongation. Our data provide direct evidence for an elevator-like mechanism of ion transport by an SLC4 family member.

CryoEM structures of anion exchanger 1 capture multiple states of inward- and outward-facing conformations.,Zhekova HR, Jiang J, Wang W, Tsirulnikov K, Kayik G, Khan HM, Azimov R, Abuladze N, Kao L, Newman D, Noskov SY, Tieleman DP, Hong Zhou Z, Pushkin A, Kurtz I Commun Biol. 2022 Dec 14;5(1):1372. doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-04306-8. PMID:36517642^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.