Molekulare Funktion von Proteinen der cation diffusion facilitator family untersucht am Beispiel der CzcD und des DmeF-Proteins aus Ralstonia metallidurans

The CzcD protein is the first described member of the cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) protein family, more specifically, of the CDF2 group that transports mainly zinc. The proteins FieF and DmeF are the first described members of the two remaining groups (13) CDF3 and CDF1, which transport predominantly iron and cobalt, respectively (7, 11). In the first three years, amino acyl residues involved in metal binding and transport in the CDF2 proteins CzcD and ZitB were identified, the physiological function of these proteins in bacteria is now much clearer, and in vitro transport assays were established (2). These approaches will be combined to evaluate the influence of amino acyl residues in CzcD, ZitB, and DmeF on metal binding constants and transport kinetics. FieF will be investigated not in this but in a related project. In addition to this, multiple approaches will be tried to obtain as much structural information on CDF proteins as possible.