The details and entropy demons in a transmembrane allosteric machine

In the model gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, three of the four Type VII ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter systems have been well characterized structurally and functionally. A new study reports the cryo-EM structures of the fourth Type VII ABC system, YbbAP-TesA, and provides evidence for its role in extracting hydrophobic compounds from the bacterial inner membrane and their subsequent hydrolytic transformation.