Figure 1.

Cytosolic N- and C-termini play a crucial role in transporter expression, function and turnover. The figure highlights in a simplified manner how the topology of cytosolic termini alters depending on the overall conformation of the transporters (i.e. outward facing, occluded, inward facing) and this altered conformation is crucial for regulating both intramolecular events (i.e. transport activity, allosteric regulation) and intermolecular interactions (i.e. ubiquitination, endocytosis, sorting, signalling, etc.). Notice that in the outward-facing conformation the N- and C-tails are in closer contact with other domains of the transporter than in the inward-facing conformation. For more details see main text.