Structural perspectives on secondary active transporters

Secondary active transporters catalyze the concentrative transport of substrates across lipid membranes by harnessing the energy of electrochemical ion gradients. These transporters bind their ligands on one side of the membrane, and undergo a global conformational change to release them on the other side of the membrane. Over the last few years, crystal structures have captured several bacterial secondary transporters in different states along their transport cycle, providing insight into possible molecular mechanisms. In this review, we summarize recent findings focusing on the emerging structural and mechanistic similarities between evolutionary diverse transporters. We also discuss the structural basis of substrate binding, ion coupling and inhibition viewed from the perspective of these similarities.