Cloning of two novel ABC transporters mapping on human chromosome 9.

The family of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters or traffic ATPases is composed of several membrane-associated proteins that transport a great variety of solutes across cellular membranes. Two novel mammalian members of the family, ABC1 and ABC2, have been identified by a PCR-based approach. They belong to a group of traffic ATPases encoded as a single multifunctional protein, such as CFTR, STE 6, and P-glycoproteins. Their peculiar structural features and close relationship to ABC transporters involved in nodulation suggest that ABC1 and ABC2 define a novel subgroup of mammalian traffic ATPases.