Ins and Outs of Rocker Switch Mechanism in Major Facilitator Superfamily of Transporters

Abstract

The major facilitator superfamily (MFS) of transporters consists of three classes of membrane transporters: symporters, uniporters, and antiporters. Despite such diverse functions, MFS transporters are believed to undergo similar conformational changes within their distinct transport cycles, known as the rocker-switch mechanism. While the similarities between conformational changes are noteworthy, the differences are also important since they could potentially explain the distinct functions of symporters, uniporters, and antiporters of the MFS superfamily. We reviewed a variety of experimental and computational structural data on a select number of antiporters, symporters, and uniporters from the MFS family to compare the similarities and differences of the conformational dynamics of three different classes of transporters.

Deciphering the Diversity in Bacterial Transporters That Salvage Queuosine Precursors

“…The Major Facilitator Superfamily (IPR011701/PF07690) (MFS) examined here is a family with more than 4 million members, representing the largest family of secondary transporters with members originating everywhere, from Archaea to Homo sapiens [ 38 , 39 ]. Many of the characterized MFS subgroups transporting a variety of compounds were found to separate well in the initial SSN ( Figure S6 ).…”