Exploring Unorthodox Aquaporins : Characterization of NbXIPs & AtNIPs
Popular science summaryWater is very important for life. In order to survive every organism needs to control the amount of water in its cells. One of the main ways the cell regulates its water content is through aquaporins. Aquaporins are membrane proteins that allow water and/or small neutral molecules to enter or exit the cell. Aquaporins form a large family and are present in all life forms, hoAbstractAquaporins are membrane integral proteins that facilitate the transport of waterand/or other small neutral molecules across biological membranes in cells in allforms of life. Among the subfamilies of aquaporins in higher plants, the X IntrinsicProteins (XIPs) are the most recently discovered subfamily and the leastcharacterized. However, the aromatic/arginine (ar/R) selectivity filter and
