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The Tricky Task of Nitrate/Nitrite Antiport†
†
We thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the European Research Council for support.
Graphical Abstract
Subtle differences: Two recent crystal structures have provided the first insight into nitrate/nitrite exchangers (example shown with bound nitrite), which are crucial to bacterial metabolism. A direct comparison of the structures reveals how the proteins can distinguish between their highly similar substrates and translate this into a conformational change to translocate ions across the membrane.
