These proteins adopt an alpha/beta SpoIIAA-like fold, similar to that found in STAT (Pfam:PF01740). They adopt open and closed conformations arising from different arrangements of their alpha-2 and alpha-3 helices. They may be membrane associated and may function as carriers of non-polar compounds [1].

1: Open and closed conformations of two SpoIIAA-like proteins (YP_749275.1 and YP_001095227.1) provide insights into membrane association and ligand binding. Kumar A, Lomize A, Jin KK, Carlton D, Miller MD, Jaroszewski L, Abdubek P, Astakhova T, Axelrod HL, Chiu HJ, Clayton T, Das D, Deller MC, Duan L, Feuerhelm J, Grant JC, Grzechnik A, Han GW, Klock HE, Knuth MW, Kozbial P, Krishna SS, Marciano D, McMullan D, Morse AT, Nigoghossian E, Okach L, Reyes R, Rife CL, Sefcovic N, Tien HJ, Trame CB, van den Bedem H, Weekes D, Xu Q, Hodgson KO, Wooley J, Elsliger MA, Deacon AM, Godzik A, Lesley SA, Wilson IA; Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun. 2010;66:1245-1253. PMID:20944218