Cystic fibrosis: Channel, catalytic, and folding properties of the CFTR protein

The identification and characterization of the CFTR gene and protein have provided not only a major impetus to the dissection of the molecular pathophysiology of cystic fibrosis (CF) but also a new perspective on the structure and function of the large superfamily of membrane transport proteins to which it belong. While the mechanism of the active vectorial translocation of many hydrophobic substrates by several of these transporters remains nearly as perplexing as it has for several decades, considerable insight has been gained into the control of the bi-directional permeation of chloride ions through a single CFTR channel by the phosphorylation of the R-domain and ATP interactions at the two nucleotide binding domains. However, details of these catalytic and allosteric mechanisms remain to be elucidated and await the replacement of two-dimensional conceptualizations with three dimensional structure information. Secondary and tertiary structure determination is required both for the understanding of the mechanism of action of the molecule and to enable a more complete appreciation of the misfolding and misprocessing of mutant CFTR molecules. This is the primary cause of the disease in the majority of the patients and hence understanding the details of the cotranslational interactions with multiple molecular chaperones, the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and other components of the quality control machinery at the endoplasmic reticulum could provide a basis for the development of new therapeutic interventions.