Cell Portal Protein Working Machine "Unlocked"

, a young teacher at Tianjin University's School of Life Sciences, published a research paper in the journal Science as the first author. For the first time, its partners analyzed the high-resolution structure of the human-sourced potassium chloride co-transporter protein KCC1, revealed the binding points of potassium ions and chlorine ions on the cell membrane protein, and proposed the potassium-chlorine cotranser transporter, which provided a new perspective for the treatment and drug design of epilepsy and other related diseases.The concentration of potassium, sodium and chlorine plasma in human cells is in a relatively balanced state, and once the imbalance will lead to a series of diseases, such as hypertension, depression, epilepsy and so on. On the cell membrane, there is a class of proteins called cation-chloride cotranser transport proteins that regulate the concentration of ions inside and outside the cell. It is very important to maintain the osmotic pressure balance inside and outside the cell and to guarantee the activity of biological cells. One such protein, KCC1, is potassium chloride transporter protein. "They're like portals attached to cell membranes, able to autonomously regulate the amount of ions coming in and out of cells and maintain a steady state balance inside and outside the cells." Lius said.For a long time, due to the lack of accurate structural information, people have very limited understanding of the working conditions of these membrane proteins. Lius and the team members after a long period of in-depth study, relying on single-particle frozen electroscope technology, combined with ion transport experiments, molecular dynamics simulation, structural comparison and other methods to successfully analyze the atomic resolution structure of 3 personal source KCC1. It is found that KCC1 exists in the form of a two-polymer, explains the structure of the transport protein to transport potassium and chloride ions simultaneously in a ratio of 1 to 1, and puts forward a model of KCC1 co-transport potassium and chloride ions.KCC1 has important physiological functions and is a clinical target for the treatment of diseases such as epilepsy. The successful analysis of the protein structure of KCC1 in this study will contribute to drug development based on protein structure, thus providing accurate data support for clinical treatment of related diseases. (Health Journal)