Recent Advances in the Structural Biology of Mg2+ Channels and Transporters

Abstract

Magnesium ions (Mg²⁺) are the most abundant divalent cations in living organisms and are essential for various physiological processes, including ATP utilization and the catalytic activity of numerous enzymes. Therefore, the homeostatic mechanisms associated with cellular Mg²⁺ are crucial for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms and are thus strictly controlled by Mg²⁺ channels and transporters. Technological advances in structural biology, such as the expression screening of membrane proteins, in meso phase crystallization, and recent cryo-EM techniques, have enabled the structure determination of numerous Mg²⁺ channels and transporters. In this review article, we provide an overview of the families of Mg²⁺ channels and transporters (MgtE/SLC41, TRPM6/7, CorA/Mrs2, CorC/CNNM), and discuss the structural biology prospects based on the known structures of MgtE, TRPM7, CorA and CorC.

Keywords: channels; homeostasis; magnesium; structural biology; transporters.