Molecular basis for the cation-chloride co-transporter activity

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The ion transport across cell membranes is essential for a survival of all types of cells. This cellular function is mediated by various ion channels and transporters. These molecular machineries are targets for many therapeutic drugs for hypertension and diabetes. Cation-chloride co-transporters transport Na+, K+ and Cl-, but there is no net charge for one transport cycle across membranes. This manner of the activity is electroneutral, and makes it difficult to assess the activity, the drug-interaction and the effect of inherited mutations in detail. In this study, we tried to develop the reconstitution system for a prokaryotic CCC homologue to liposomes. However, although the homologue possesses properties suit for biochemical analyses, it was totally difficult to control its protein expression. Instead of this approach, we succeeded to develop a cell-based platform as the conventional method to analyze this transporter.