The incessant traffic of ions across cell membranes is controlled by two kinds of border guards: ion channels and ion pumps. Open channels let selected ions diffuse rapidly down electrical and concentration gradients, whereas ion pumps labour tirelessly to maintain the gradients by consuming energy to slowly move ions thermodynamically uphill. Because of the diametrically opposed tasks and the divergent speeds of channels and pumps, they have traditionally been viewed as completely different entities, as alike as chalk and cheese. But new structural and mechanistic information about both of these classes of molecular machines challenges this comfortable separation and forces its re-evaluation.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrm2668 | DOI Listing |
Front Biosci (Landmark Ed)
January 2025
Division of Molecular Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, University of Hospital Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
Background: The inheritance of the short allele, encoding the serotonin transporter (SERT) in humans, increases susceptibility to neuropsychiatric and metabolic disorders, with aging and female sex further exacerbating these conditions. Both central and peripheral mechanisms of the compromised serotonin (5-HT) system play crucial roles in this context. Previous studies on SERT-deficient (Sert) mice, which model human SERT deficiency, have demonstrated emotional and metabolic disturbances, exacerbated by exposure to a high-fat Western diet (WD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPathogens
January 2025
Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Ensenada 22860, BC, Mexico.
is the parasite responsible for Chagas disease, which has a significant amount of genetic diversification among the species complex. Many efforts are routinely made to characterize the genetic lineages of circulating in a particular geographic area. However, the genetic loci used to typify the genetic lineages of have not been consistent between studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, Medical Faculty, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Ernst-Grube-Straße 40, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
Nimodipine is the current gold standard in the treatment of subarachnoid hemorrhage, as it is the only known calcium channel blocker that has been proven to improve neurological outcomes. In addition, nimodipine exhibits neuroprotective properties in vitro under various stress conditions. Furthermore, clinical studies have demonstrated a neuroprotective effect of nimodipine after vestibular schwannoma surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
January 2025
College of Chemistry and Life Science, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China.
Cyanobacterial cytochrome c6 (Cyt c6) is crucial for electron transfer between the cytochrome b6f complex and photosystem I (PSI), playing a key role in photosynthesis and enhancing adaptation to extreme environments. This study investigates the high-resolution crystal structures of Cyt c6 from PCC 7942 and PCC 6803, focusing on its dimerization mechanisms and functional implications for photosynthesis. Cyt c6 was expressed in using a dual-plasmid co-expression system and characterized in both oxidized and reduced states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
January 2025
Mechanistic Toxicology Branch, Division of Translational Toxicology, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH), Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27709, USA.
Acquired resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs is the primary cause of treatment failure in the clinic. While multiple factors contribute to this resistance, increased expression of ABC transporters-such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp), breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), and multidrug resistance proteins-play significant roles in the development of resistance to various chemotherapeutics. We found that Erastin, a ferroptosis inducer, was significantly cytotoxic to NCI/ADR-RES, a P-gp-expressing human ovarian cancer cell line.
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