DOCFUND COLLOQUIUM

Friday, 9 October 2026 at 15:30

Location: KG 519, 5th floor Kopfgebäude, JKU campus

Vitamins, transport, antibiotics and peer review

Prof. Dr. Dirk Jan Slotboom

University of Groningen, the Netherlands

Membrane transporter proteins are central to cellular life by making lipid bilayers permeable to selected compounds, and allowing their accumulation in -or depletion from- compartments by mechanistically coupling substrate translocation to an exergonic process. In this lecture, I will use the example of Energy-Coupling Factor (ECF) transporters to show how unidirectional transport, and therefore accumulation, is

mechanistically achieved, and how the interplay between the conformational state of the transport protein and the bending and thinning of the lipid bilayer is an integral part of the transport process.

I will present how a combination of classical biochemical, structural biological, and single-molecule spectroscopic experiments, combined with molecular dynamics simulations provides fascinating mechanistic insights. ECF transporters belong to the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily and are essential for uptake of

vitamins and cofactors in many prokaryotes. They have been linked to pathogen virulence and are potential targets for antimicrobials.

I will explain how our fundamental research on the uptake of nutrients by bacteria from the environment could also contribute to the discovery of new antibiotics.