E-Book Overview
This collection of cutting-edge methodologies for studying membrane transporters and channels takes advantage of all the latest developments in biomedical research, including pharmacogenomcs, bioinformatics, and microarray technologies. The authors explain databases and tools for bioinformatics studies, provide practical guidelines for microarray experiments and data analysis, and illustrate the use of small angle X-ray scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and molecular modeling to study the structural biology of membrane transporters. Methods for exploring structure-function correlation, such as site-directed mutagenesis, immunocytochemistry, and confocal microcopy are also described, along with several that may help in the development of novel therapeutics.
E-Book Content
Methods in Molecular Biology TM VOLUME 227 Membrane Transporters Methods and Protocols Edited by Qing Yan, MD, PhD Pharmacogenomics of Membrane Transporters 1 1 Pharmacogenomics of Membrane Transporters An Overview Qing Yan 1. Introduction 1.1. Membrane Transporters: Essential for Normal Physiological Functions Membrane transporters play crucial roles in fundamental cellular functioning and normal physiological processes of archaebacteria, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes (1). Transporters are proteins that span the lipid bilayer and form a transmembrane channel lined with hydrophilic amino acid side chains. Membrane transporters are critical during the formation of electrochemical potentials, uptake of nutrients, removal of wastes, endocytotic internalization of macromolecules, and oxygen transport in respiration (2,3). Some transporters are called “uniporters,” as they mediate the unidirectional translocation of a single substrate. When two substrates are transported in opposite directions in a firmly coupled process, transporters funct