Aspergillus Group

Our main interest is the study of the biology of membrane transporters, which are essential proteins in charge of nutrient transport from the environment to the cytoplasm, the elimination of waste products from metabolism, as well as for the maintenance of a stable intracellular environment. These proteins are not fixed in the membrane, but their presence is regulated according to the availability of a certain substrate in the medium. The malfunction of these proteins or their regulation, is related to various pathologies. They can also determine the sensitivity or resistance to drugs. It is therefore of interest to understand how these proteins work, how they reach their topology, their regulation, what determines the specificity and transport kinetics, not only for the understanding of transport as a cellular function, but also from a medical and therapeutic point of view.

We focus on the study of the structure-function relationship of the A. nidulans urea transporter, UreA, and the mechanisms involved in its biosynthesis and intracellular traffic. On the other hand, the regulation of the expression, general and specific, of the transporters of nitrogenous substances also constitute a subject of central interest of our group. We are currently studying a possible system for general regulation of the expression of genes that code for amino acid transporters.