The tricky task of nitrate/nitrite antiport

Abstract

Subtle differences: Two recent crystal structures have provided the first insight into nitrate/nitrite exchangers (example shown with bound nitrite), which are crucial to bacterial metabolism. A direct comparison of the structures reveals how the proteins can distinguish between their highly similar substrates and translate this into a conformational change to translocate ions across the membrane.

Keywords: X-ray diffraction; bioenergetics; major facilitator family; membrane proteins; nitrogen metabolism.