A functional-phylogenetic system for the classification of transport proteins

Twenty completely sequenced genomes of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes have been surveyed for the presence of genes encoding homologues of known solute transport proteins. These analyses and others have demonstrated the presence of nearly 250 families of sequence-related transporters. All such proteins have been classified according to the system we call the transporter classification system of the transport commission (TC). This short summary article describes the main features of this system; the families are presented in tabular form. Detailed information concerning these families and their constituent transporters is available on our web sites. J. Cell. Biochem. Suppls. 32/33:84-94, 1999.