ZnuABC is a high-
affinity
Affinity may refer to:
Commerce, finance and law
* Affinity (law), kinship by marriage
* Affinity analysis, a market research and business management technique
* Affinity Credit Union, a Saskatchewan-based credit union
* Affinity Equity Partn ...
transporter specialized for transporting
zinc ions as part of a system for metal ion
homeostasis in
bacteria. The complex is a member of the
ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter
protein family
A protein family is a group of evolutionarily related proteins. In many cases, a protein family has a corresponding gene family, in which each gene encodes a corresponding protein with a 1:1 relationship. The term "protein family" should not be c ...
. The transporter contains three protein components:
* ZnuA, a
periplasmic zinc-binding protein.
* ZnuB, an
integral membrane protein that transports zinc across the
cytoplasmic membrane.
* ZnuC, an
ATPase
ATPases (, Adenosine 5'-TriPhosphatase, adenylpyrophosphatase, ATP monophosphatase, triphosphatase, SV40 T-antigen, ATP hydrolase, complex V (mitochondrial electron transport), (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase, HCO3−-ATPase, adenosine triphosphatase) are ...
responsible for coupling ion transport to
ATP
ATP may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* Association of Tennis Professionals, men's professional tennis governing body
* American Technical Publishers, employee-owned publishing company
* ', a Danish pension
* Armenia Tree Project, non ...
hydrolysis.
The
expression of ZnuABC is
regulated by the
zinc uptake regulator (Zur) protein and is induced by conditions of zinc starvation. Because zinc is often a limiting factor in
bacterial infections, some
pathogenic bacteria are heavily dependent on ZnuABC to scavenge zinc from the environment in an animal host.
The periplasmic protein ZnuA interacts with
ZinT, another component of the
regulon
In molecular genetics, a regulon is a group of genes that are regulated as a unit, generally controlled by the same regulatory gene that expresses a protein acting as a repressor or activator. This terminology is generally, although not exclusiv ...
controlled by Zur, which is also involved in periplasmic zinc homeostasis.
References
ATP-binding cassette transporters
Bacterial proteins
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