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PMID: 12845534 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Review

Sodium-coupled neutral amino acid (System N/A) transporters of the SLC38 gene family.

Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology ·Vol. 447 ·No. 5 ·2004-02-00 ·Pages 784-95

Mackenzie B, Erickson JD

Abstract

The sodium-coupled neutral amino acid transporters (SNAT) of the SLC38 gene family resemble the classically-described System A and System N transport activities in terms of their functional properties and patterns of regulation. Transport of small, aliphatic amino acids by System A subtypes (SNAT1, SNAT2, and SNAT4) is rheogenic and pH sensitive. The System N subtypes SNAT3 and SNAT5 also countertransport H(+), which may be key to their operation in reverse, and have narrower substrate profiles than do the System A subtypes. Glutamine emerges as a favored substrate throughout the family, except for SNAT4. The SLC38 transporters undoubtedly play many physiological roles including the transfer of glutamine from astrocyte to neuron in the CNS, ammonia detoxification and gluconeogenesis in the liver, and the renal response to acidosis. Probing their regulation has revealed additional roles, and recent work has considered SLC38 transporters as therapeutic targets in neoplasia.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Amino Acid Transport System A/chemistry,genetics,physiology Amino Acids, Neutral/metabolism Animals Biological Transport/physiology Humans Molecular Sequence Data Multigene Family/physiology Sodium/metabolism
Chemicals
Amino Acid Transport System A Amino Acids, Neutral SLC38A1 protein, human Sodium
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Mackenzie Bryan
Membrane Biology Program and Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115, USA. bmackenzie@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Erickson Jeffrey D
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Article Info
Journal
Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology
Abbr.
Pflugers Arch
ISSN
0031-6768
DOI
10.1007/s00424-003-1117-9
Email
bmackenzie@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Published
2004-02-00
Epub
2003-00-04
Pages
784-95
Language
English
Region
Germany
NLM ID
0154720
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1007/s00424-003-1117-9 View journal details
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