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  • Perspective
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Future opportunities in solute carrier structural biology

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 31, pages 587–590 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Solute carriers (SLCs) control the flow of small molecules and ions across biological membranes. Over the last 20 years, the pace of research in SLC biology has accelerated markedly, opening new opportunities to treat metabolic diseases, cancer and neurological disorders. Recently, new families of atypical SLCs, with roles in organelle biology, metabolite signaling and trafficking, have expanded their roles in the cell. This Perspective discusses work leading to current advances and the emerging opportunities to target and modulate SLCs to uncover new biology and treat human disease.

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Fig. 1: The many roles of SLCs in the cell.

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Acknowledgements

S.N. receives support from Wellcome through grants 215519 and 219531.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Simon Newstead

  2. The Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Simon Newstead

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Correspondence to Simon Newstead.

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Newstead, S. Future opportunities in solute carrier structural biology. Nat Struct Mol Biol 31, 587–590 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-024-01271-0

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