scholarly journals Rush Hour of LATs towards Their Transport Cycle

Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 602
Author(s):  
Adrià Nicolàs-Aragó ◽  
Joana Fort ◽  
Manuel Palacín ◽  
Ekaitz Errasti-Murugarren
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Structural Biology ◽  
Amino Acid Transporters ◽  
Functional Information ◽  
Cationic Amino Acid ◽  
Substrate Interaction ◽  
Transport Cycle ◽  
Remote Homologs ◽  
Molecular Bases

The mammalian SLC7 family comprises the L-amino acid transporters (LATs) and the cationic amino acid transporters (CATs). The relevance of these transporters is highlighted by their involvement in several human pathologies, including inherited rare diseases and acquired diseases, such as cancer. In the last four years, several crystal or cryo-EM structures of LATs and CATs have been solved. These structures have started to fill our knowledge gap that previously was based on the structural biology of remote homologs of the amino acid–polyamine–organocation (APC) transporters. This review recovers this structural and functional information to start generating the molecular bases of the transport cycle of LATs. Special attention is given to the known transporter conformations within the transport cycle and the molecular bases for substrate interaction and translocation, including the asymmetric interaction of substrates at both sides of the plasma membrane.

Heteromeric amino acid transporters. In search of the molecular bases of transport cycle mechanisms1

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 745-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Palacín ◽  
Ekaitz Errasti-Murugarren ◽  
Albert Rosell
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Disulfide Bridge ◽  
Structural Knowledge ◽  
Amino Acid Transporters ◽  
Subunit Interactions ◽  
Transport Cycle ◽  
Functional Relevance ◽  
The One ◽  
Molecular Bases ◽  
Solute Transporters

Heteromeric amino acid transporters (HATs) are relevant targets for structural studies. On the one hand, HATs are involved in inherited and acquired human pathologies. On the other hand, these molecules are the only known examples of solute transporters composed of two subunits (heavy and light) linked by a disulfide bridge. Unfortunately, structural knowledge of HATs is scarce and limited to the atomic structure of the ectodomain of a heavy subunit (human 4F2hc-ED) and distant prokaryotic homologues of the light subunits that share a LeuT-fold. Recent data on human 4F2hc/LAT2 at nanometer resolution revealed 4F2hc-ED positioned on top of the external loops of the light subunit LAT2. Improved resolution of the structure of HATs, combined with conformational studies, is essential to establish the structural bases for light subunit recognition and to evaluate the functional relevance of heavy and light subunit interactions for the amino acid transport cycle.

Molecular Biology of Mammalian Plasma Membrane Amino Acid Transporters

1998 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 969-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
MANUEL PALACÍN ◽  
RAÚL ESTÉVEZ ◽  
JOAN BERTRAN ◽  
ANTONIO ZORZANO
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Structure Function ◽  
Amino Acid Transport ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Amino Acid Transporters ◽  
Acid Transport ◽  
Cationic Amino Acid ◽  
Function Relationship

Palacı́n, Manuel, Raúl Estévez, Joan Bertran, and Antonio Zorzano. Molecular Biology of Mammalian Plasma Membrane Amino Acid Transporters. Physiol. Rev. 78: 969–1054, 1998. — Molecular biology entered the field of mammalian amino acid transporters in 1990–1991 with the cloning of the first GABA and cationic amino acid transporters. Since then, cDNA have been isolated for more than 20 mammalian amino acid transporters. All of them belong to four protein families. Here we describe the tissue expression, transport characteristics, structure-function relationship, and the putative physiological roles of these transporters. Wherever possible, the ascription of these transporters to known amino acid transport systems is suggested. Significant contributions have been made to the molecular biology of amino acid transport in mammals in the last 3 years, such as the construction of knockouts for the CAT-1 cationic amino acid transporter and the EAAT2 and EAAT3 glutamate transporters, as well as a growing number of studies aimed to elucidate the structure-function relationship of the amino acid transporter. In addition, the first gene ( rBAT) responsible for an inherited disease of amino acid transport (cystinuria) has been identified. Identifying the molecular structure of amino acid transport systems of high physiological relevance (e.g., system A, L, N, and x−c) and of the genes responsible for other aminoacidurias as well as revealing the key molecular mechanisms of the amino acid transporters are the main challenges of the future in this field.

scholarly journals Expression of solute carrier 7A4 (SLC7A4) in the plasma membrane is not sufficient to mediate amino acid transport activity

2002 ◽  
Vol 364 (3) ◽  
pp. 767-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine WOLF ◽  
Annette JANZEN ◽  
Nicole VÉKONY ◽  
Ursula MARTINÉ ◽  
Dennis STRAND ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Protein Expression ◽  
Amino Acid Transport ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Xenopus Laevis Oocytes ◽  
Amino Acid Transporters ◽  
Acid Transport ◽  
Transport Activity ◽  
Solute Carrier

Member 4 of human solute carrier family 7 (SLC7A4) exhibits significant sequence homology with the SLC7 subfamily of human cationic amino acid transporters (hCATs) [Sperandeo, Borsani, Incerti, Zollo, Rossi, Zuffardi, Castaldo, Taglialatela, Andria and Sebastio (1998) Genomics 49, 230–236]. It is therefore often referred to as hCAT-4 even though no convincing transport activity has been shown for this protein. We expressed SLC7A4 in Xenopus laevis oocytes, but could not detect any transport activity for cationic, neutral or anionic amino acids or for the polyamine putrescine. In addition, human glioblastoma cells stably overexpressing a fusion protein between SLC7A4 and the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) did not exhibit an increased transport activity for l-arginine. The lack of transport activity was not due to a lack of SLC7A4 protein expression in the plasma membrane, as in both cell types SLC7A4-EGFP exhibited a similar subcellular localization and level of protein expression as functional hCAT-EGFP proteins. The expression of SLC7A4 can be induced in NT2 teratocarcinoma cells by treatment with retinoic acid. However, also for this endogenously expressed SLC7A4, we could not detect any transport activity for l-arginine. Our data demonstrate that the expression of SLC7A4 in the plasma membrane is not sufficient to induce an amino acid transport activity in X. laevis oocytes or human cells. Therefore, SLC7A4 is either not an amino acid transporter or it needs additional (protein) factor(s) to be functional.

Na(+)-independent transport (uniport) of amino acids and glucose in mammalian cells.

1994 ◽  
Vol 196 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-108
Author(s):  
D K Kakuda ◽  
C L MacLeod
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Glucose Transporter ◽  
Sequence Similarity ◽  
Amino Acid Sequence Similarity ◽  
Amino Acid Transporters ◽  
Cationic Amino Acid ◽  
Transporter Family ◽  
Share Amino Acid Sequence

Recent advances have made possible the isolation of the genes and their cDNAs encoding Na(+)-independent amino acid transporters. Two classes of amino acid 'uniporters' have been isolated. One class contains the mCAT (murine cationic amino acid transporter) gene family that encodes proteins predicted to span the membrane 12-14 times and exhibits structural properties similar to the GLUT (glucose transporter) family and to other well-known transporters. The other class consists of two known genes, rBAT (related to B system amino acid transporters) and 4F2hc, that share amino acid sequence similarity with alpha-amylases and alpha-glucosidases. They are type II glycoproteins predicted to span the membrane only once, yet they mediate the Na(+)-independent transport of cationic and zwitterionic amino acids in Xenopus oocytes. Mutations in the human rBAT gene have been identified by Palacín and his co-workers in several families suffering from a heritable form of cystinuria. This important finding clearly establishes a key role for rBAT in cystine transport. The two classes of amino acid transporters are compared with the well-studied GLUT family of Na(+)-independent glucose transporters.

scholarly journals Nitric oxide can acutely modulate its biosynthesis through a negative feedback mechanism on l-arginine transport in cardiac myocytes

2010 ◽  
Vol 299 (2) ◽  
pp. C230-C239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaguo Zhou ◽  
David D. Kim ◽  
R. Daniel Peluffo
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Cardiac Myocytes ◽  
Amino Acid Transporters ◽  
No Production ◽  
Cardiac Muscle Cells ◽  
No Donor ◽  
Rat Cardiomyocytes ◽  
Cationic Amino Acid ◽  
Intervention Point

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a central role as a cellular signaling molecule in health and disease. In the heart, NO decreases the rate of spontaneous beating and the velocity and extent of shortening and accelerates the velocity of relengthening. Since the cationic amino acid l-arginine (l-Arg) is the substrate for NO production by NO synthases (NOS), we tested whether the transporters that mediate l-Arg import in cardiac muscle cells represent an intervention point in the regulation of NO synthesis. Electrical currents activated by l-Arg with low apparent affinity in whole cell voltage-clamped rat cardiomyocytes were found to be rapidly and reversibly inhibited by NO donors. Radiotracer uptake studies performed on cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles revealed the presence of high-affinity/low-capacity and low-affinity/high-capacity components of cationic amino acid transport that were inhibited by the NO donor S-nitroso- N-acetyl-dl-penicillamine. NO inhibited uptake in a noncompetitive manner with Ki values of 275 and 827 nM for the high- and low-affinity component, respectively. Fluorescence spectroscopy experiments showed that millimolar concentrations of l-Arg initially promoted and then inhibited the release of endogenous NO in cardiomyocytes. Likewise, l-Arg currents measured in cardiac myocytes voltage clamped in the presence of 460 nM free intracellular Ca2+, a condition in which a Ca-CaM complex should activate endogenous NO production, showed fast activation followed by inhibition of l-Arg transport. The NOS inhibitor N-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester, but not blockers of downstream reactions, specifically removed this inhibitory component. These results demonstrate that NO acutely regulates its own biosynthesis by modulating the availability of l-Arg via cationic amino acid transporters.

Characterization of cationic amino acid transporters (hCATs) 1 and 2 in human skin

2008 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Jaeger ◽  
Friedrich Paulsen ◽  
Johannes Wohlrab
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Human Skin ◽  
Amino Acid Transporters ◽  
Cationic Amino Acid
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