Editorial: Understanding membrane transporters: from structure to function

Membrane transporters are critical to the passage of molecules across biological membranes and compartments, including the extracellular and intracellular environments. For this reason, these proteins play a crucial role in a plethora of pathophysiological processes in all organisms and as such are of great interest from the biomedical and biotechnological viewpoints. They include primary and secondary active and passive transporters which exert their function through conformational changes induced by ligand binding or other mechanisms including, among others, allosteric gating, transmembrane potential variation, and ATP hydrolysis. This Research Topic collects scientific contributions concerning the study of membrane transporters, with a specific focus on the characterization of the relationships between their structure, dynamics, and mechanism of action through a combination of experimental and computational techniques. They also include studies on the interactions between transporters and membrane lipids and how these affect the transport mechanism.