scholarly journals A negative charge at position D+5 of Motif A is critical for function of the major facilitator superfamily multidrug/H+ antiporter MdtM

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Law
Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 476
Author(s):  
Joachim Kloehn ◽  
Matteo Lunghi ◽  
Emmanuel Varesio ◽  
David Dubois ◽  
Dominique Soldati-Favre

Apicomplexan parasites are responsible for devastating diseases, including malaria, toxoplasmosis, and cryptosporidiosis. Current treatments are limited by emerging resistance to, as well as the high cost and toxicity of existing drugs. As obligate intracellular parasites, apicomplexans rely on the uptake of many essential metabolites from their host. Toxoplasma gondii, the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, is auxotrophic for several metabolites, including sugars (e.g., myo-inositol), amino acids (e.g., tyrosine), lipidic compounds and lipid precursors (cholesterol, choline), vitamins, cofactors (thiamine) and others. To date, only few apicomplexan metabolite transporters have been characterized and assigned a substrate. Here, we set out to investigate whether untargeted metabolomics can be used to identify the substrate of an uncharacterized transporter. Based on existing genome- and proteome-wide datasets, we have identified an essential plasma membrane transporter of the major facilitator superfamily in T. gondii—previously termed TgApiAT6-1. Using an inducible system based on RNA degradation, TgApiAT6-1 was depleted, and the mutant parasite’s metabolome was compared to that of non-depleted parasites. The most significantly reduced metabolite in parasites depleted in TgApiAT6-1 was identified as the amino acid lysine, for which T. gondii is predicted to be auxotrophic. Using stable isotope-labeled amino acids, we confirmed that TgApiAT6-1 is required for efficient lysine uptake. Our findings highlight untargeted metabolomics as a powerful tool to identify the substrate of orphan transporters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sushant Kumar ◽  
Arunabh Athreya ◽  
Ashutosh Gulati ◽  
Rahul Mony Nair ◽  
Ithayaraja Mahendran ◽  
...  

AbstractTransporters play vital roles in acquiring antimicrobial resistance among pathogenic bacteria. In this study, we report the X-ray structure of NorC, a 14-transmembrane major facilitator superfamily member that is implicated in fluoroquinolone resistance in drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains, at a resolution of 3.6 Å. The NorC structure was determined in complex with a single-domain camelid antibody that interacts at the extracellular face of the transporter and stabilizes it in an outward-open conformation. The complementarity determining regions of the antibody enter and block solvent access to the interior of the vestibule, thereby inhibiting alternating-access. NorC specifically interacts with an organic cation, tetraphenylphosphonium, although it does not demonstrate an ability to transport it. The interaction is compromised in the presence of NorC-antibody complex, consequently establishing a strategy to detect and block NorC and related transporters through the use of single-domain camelid antibodies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Min Liang ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Landa Qi ◽  
Guocan Chen ◽  
Lei Cai ◽  
...  

Fungi from unique environments exhibit special physiological characters and plenty of bioactive natural products. However, the recalcitrant genetics or poor transformation efficiencies prevent scientists from systematically studying molecular biological mechanisms and exploiting their metabolites. In this study, we targeted a guanophilic fungus Amphichorda guana LC5815 and developed a genetic transformation system. We firstly established an efficient protoplast preparing method by conditional optimization of sporulation and protoplast regeneration. The regeneration rate of the protoplast is up to about 34.6% with 0.8 M sucrose as the osmotic pressure stabilizer. To develop the genetic transformation, we used the polyethylene glycol-mediated protoplast transformation, and the testing gene AG04914 encoding a major facilitator superfamily transporter was deleted in strain LC5815, which proves the feasibility of this genetic manipulation system. Furthermore, a uridine/uracil auxotrophic strain was created by using a positive screening protocol with 5-fluoroorotic acid as a selective reagent. Finally, the genetic transformation system was successfully established in the guanophilic fungus strain LC5815, which lays the foundation for the molecular genetics research and will facilitate the exploitation of bioactive secondary metabolites in fungi.


2009 ◽  
Vol 53 (11) ◽  
pp. 4673-4677 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Vecchione ◽  
Blair Alexander ◽  
Jason K. Sello

ABSTRACT Chloramphenicol, florfenicol, and thiamphenicol are used as antibacterial drugs in clinical and veterinary medicine. Two efflux pumps of the major facilitator superfamily encoded by the cmlR1 and cmlR2 genes mediate resistance to these antibiotics in Streptomyces coelicolor, a close relative of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The transcription of both genes was observed by reverse transcription-PCR. Disruption of cmlR1 decreased the chloramphenicol MIC 1.6-fold, while disruption of cmlR2 lowered the MIC 16-fold. The chloramphenicol MIC of wild-type S. coelicolor decreased fourfold and eightfold in the presence of reserpine and Phe-Arg-β-naphthylamide, respectively. These compounds are known to potentiate the activity of some antibacterial drugs via efflux pump inhibition. While reserpine is known to potentiate drug activity against gram-positive bacteria, this is the first time that Phe-Arg-β-naphthylamide has been shown to potentiate drug activity against a gram-positive bacterium.


2007 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1265-1270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerda Szakonyi ◽  
Dong Leng ◽  
Pikyee Ma ◽  
Kim E. Bettaney ◽  
Massoud Saidijam ◽  
...  

Open Biology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 170142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emelie Perland ◽  
Sonchita Bagchi ◽  
Axel Klaesson ◽  
Robert Fredriksson

Solute carriers (SLCs) are vital as they are responsible for a major part of the molecular transport over lipid bilayers. At present, there are 430 identified SLCs, of which 28 are called atypical SLCs of major facilitator superfamily (MFS) type. These are MFSD1, 2A, 2B, 3, 4A, 4B, 5, 6, 6 L, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13A, 14A and 14B; SV2A, SV2B and SV2C; SVOP and SVOPL; SPNS1, SPNS2 and SPNS3; and UNC93A and UNC93B1. We studied their fundamental properties, and we also included CLN3, an atypical SLC not yet belonging to any protein family (Pfam) clan, because its involvement in the same neuronal degenerative disorders as MFSD8. With phylogenetic analyses and bioinformatic sequence comparisons, the proteins were divided into 15 families, denoted atypical MFS transporter families (AMTF1-15). Hidden Markov models were used to identify orthologues from human to Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans . Topology predictions revealed 12 transmembrane segments (for all except CLN3), corresponding to the common MFS structure. With single-cell RNA sequencing and in situ proximity ligation assay on brain cells, co-expressions of several atypical SLCs were identified. Finally, the transcription levels of all genes were analysed in the hypothalamic N25/2 cell line after complete amino acid starvation, showing altered expression levels for several atypical SLCs.


Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
Koudkeo Phommachan ◽  
Chansom Keo-oudone ◽  
Mochamad Nurcholis ◽  
Nookhao Vongvilaisak ◽  
Mingkhuan Chanhming ◽  
...  

Candida tropicalis, a xylose-fermenting yeast, has the potential for converting cellulosic biomass to ethanol. Thermotolerant C. tropicalis X-17, which was isolated in Laos, was subjected to repetitive long-term cultivation with a gradual increase in temperature (RLCGT) in the presence of a high concentration of glucose, which exposed cells to various stresses in addition to the high concentration of glucose and high temperatures. The resultant adapted strain demonstrated increased tolerance to ethanol, furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural at high temperatures and displayed improvement in fermentation ability at high glucose concentrations and xylose-fermenting ability. Transcriptome analysis revealed the up-regulation of a gene for a glucose transporter of the major facilitator superfamily and genes for stress response and cell wall proteins. Additionally, hydropathy analysis revealed that three genes for putative membrane proteins with multiple membrane-spanning segments were also up-regulated. From these findings, it can be inferred that the up-regulation of genes, including the gene for a glucose transporter, is responsible for the phenotype of the adaptive strain. This study revealed part of the mechanisms of fermentability at high glucose concentrations in C. tropicalis and the results of this study suggest that RLCGT is an effective procedure for improving multistress tolerance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. AYDIN AKBUDAK ◽  
Ertugrul Filiz ◽  
Durmus Cetin

High-affinity nitrate transporter 2 (NRT2) proteins have vital roles in nitrate (NO3-) uptake and translocation in plants. The gene families coding NRT2 proteins have been identified and functionally characterized in many plant species. However, no systematic identification of NRT2 family members have been reported in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). There is also little known about their expression profiles under environmental stresses. Accordingly, the present study aimed to identify NRT2 gene family in the tomato genome; then, investigate them in detail through bioinformatics, physiological and expression analyses. As a result, four novel NRT2 genes were identified in the tomato genome, all of which contain the same domain belonging to the Major Facilitator Superfamily (PF07690). The co-expression network of SlNRT genes revealed that they were co-expressed with several other genes in many different molecular pathways including transport, photosynthesis, fatty acid metabolism and amino acid catabolism. Programming many crucial physiological and metabolic pathways, various numbers of phosphorylation sites were predicted in the NRT2 proteins.


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