Fe is the most common redox-active metal cofactor found in proteins. Once in the cytosol, Fe must traffic to its sites of incorporation in proteins; when Fe is present in excess, it must be sent to neutral compartments for storage. Intracellular Fe traffic is made even more complex by Fe chemistry. Indeed, iron in cells exists as ferrous Fe2+ or ferric Fe3+ iron complexed with various ligands, the nature of which depends on the chemical properties of each cell compartment and on the stability of the iron compound in a particular environment. Consequently, unique types of transporters must be recruited in cell compartments to enable the transport of specific Fe species. YELLOW STRIPE1-LIKE (YSL) proteins are a family of transporters of metal complexes in plants. The first class of YSL transporters is represented by maize (Zea mays) YS1, or its rice and barley orthologs, and mediates iron acquisition at the root surface of poaceae plants. YS1 orthologs transport a complex of FeIII with a ligand belonging to a family of small plant metabolites collectively called phytosiderophores (PSs). PSs are synthesized by poaceae plants in response to iron deficiency and excreted from the root to solubilize rhizospheric iron . YS1 orthologs are therefore part of the primary uptake machinery specific to poaceae plants. Here you can see a recent structure of the barley Yellow stripe 1 transporter in complex with cholesterol, determined by cryoEM (PDB code: 7WSR)
#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #transporter ... #iron ... #barley ... #plant ... #homeostasis ... #cryoem
Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint
#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #transporter ... #iron ... #barley ... #plant ... #homeostasis ... #cryoem
Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint
