Membrane 'neighborhood' helps transporter protein regulate cell signaling

When a cell receives a message from outside, it generates a molecule called cyclic AMP (cAMP) to relay that message. To ensure that the signal reaches the correct effector without accidentally triggering the pathways, cAMP levels must be maintained around their point of origin and at the correct level. Contributing to this local control is ABCC4, a protein that transports cAMP out of cells and also contributes to drug resistance. Yet it was unclear how ABCC4 is held in place in the right place to perform these functions.