Ion transporter superfamily

Last updated
Identifiers
SymbolIT
Pfam clan CL0182
OPM superfamily 272
OPM protein 4r1i

The ion transporter (IT) superfamily is a superfamily of secondary carriers that transport charged substrates. [1] [2]

Contents

Families

As of early 2016, the currently recognized and functionally defined families that make up the IT superfamily include:

See also

Related Research Articles

The Transporter Classification Database is an International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB)-approved classification system for membrane transport proteins, including ion channels.

An amino acid transporter is a membrane transport protein that transports amino acids. They are mainly of the solute carrier family.

Betaine transporter Proteins

Proteins of the Betaine/Carnitine/Choline Transporter (BCCT) family are found in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and archaea. The BCCT family is a member a large group of secondary transporters, the APC superfamily. Their common functional feature is that they all transport molecules with a quaternary ammonium group [R-N (CH3)3]. The BCCT family proteins vary in length between 481 and 706 amino acyl residues and possess 12 putative transmembrane α-helical spanners (TMSs). The x-ray structures reveal two 5 TMS repeats with the total number of TMSs being 10. These porters catalyze bidirectional uniport or are energized by pmf-driven or smf-driven proton or sodium ion symport, respectively, or else by substrate:substrate antiport. Some of these permeases exhibit osmosensory and osmoregulatory properties inherent to their polypeptide chains.

The Nucleobase:Cation Symporter-1 (NCS1) Family (TC# 2.A.39) consists of over 1000 currently sequenced proteins derived from Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, archaea, fungi and plants. These proteins function as transporters for nucleobases including purines and pyrimidines. Members of this family possess twelve transmembrane α-helical spanners (TMSs). At least some of them have been shown to function in uptake by substrate:H+ symport mechanism.

Sodium-solute symporter

Members of the Solute:Sodium Symporter (SSS) Family (TC# 2.A.21) catalyze solute:Na+ symport. The SSS family is within the APC Superfamily. The solutes transported may be sugars, amino acids, organo cations such as choline, nucleosides, inositols, vitamins, urea or anions, depending on the system. Members of the SSS family have been identified in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Almost all functionally well-characterized members normally catalyze solute uptake via Na+ symport.

The Nucleobase cation symporter-2 (NCS2) family, also called the Nucleobase ascorbate transporter (NAT) family, consists of over 1000 sequenced proteins derived from gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, archaea, fungi, plants and animals. The NCS2/NAT family is a member of the APC Superfamily of secondary carriers. Of the five known families of transporters that act on nucleobases, NCS2/NAT is the only one that is most widespread. Many functionally characterized members are specific for nucleobases including both purines and pyrimidines, but others are purine-specific. However, two closely related rat/human members of the family, SVCT1 and SVCT2, localized to different tissues of the body, co-transport L-ascorbate (vitamin C) and Na+ with a high degree of specificity and high affinity for the vitamin. Clustering of NCS2/NAT family members on the phylogenetic tree is complex, with bacterial proteins and eukaryotic proteins each falling into at least three distinct clusters. The plant and animal proteins cluster loosely together, but the fungal proteins branch from one of the three bacterial clusters forming a tighter grouping. E. coli possesses four distantly related paralogous members of the NCS2 family.

Sodium:dicarboxylate symporter Protein family

It has been shown that integral membrane proteins that mediate the uptake of a wide variety of molecules with the concomitant uptake of sodium ions can be grouped, on the basis of sequence and functional similarities into a number of distinct families. One of these families is known as the sodium:dicarboxylate symporter family (SDF).

The transporter-opsin-G protein-coupled receptor (TOG) superfamily is a protein superfamily of integral membrane proteins, usually of 7 or 8 transmembrane alpha-helical segments (TMSs). It includes (1) ion-translocating microbial rhodopsins and (2) G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), (3) Sweet sugar transporters, (4) nicotinamide ribonucleoside uptake permeases (PnuC; TC# 4.B.1), (5) 4-toluene sulfonate uptake permeases (TSUP); TC# 2.A.102), (6) Ni2+–Co2+ transporters (NiCoT); TC# 2.A.52), (7) organic solute transporters (OST); TC# 2.A.82), (8) phosphate:Na+ symporters (PNaS); TC# 2.A.58) and (9) lysosomal cystine transporters (LCT); TC# 2.A.43).

The amino acid-polyamine-organocation (APC) superfamily is the second largest superfamily of secondary carrier proteins currently known, and it contains several Solute carriers. Originally, the APC superfamily consisted of subfamilies under the transporter classification number. This superfamily has since been expanded to include eighteen different families.

The Amino Acid-Polyamine-Organocation (APC) Family of transport proteins includes members that function as solute:cation symporters and solute:solute antiporters. They occur in bacteria, archaea, fungi, unicellular eukaryotic protists, slime molds, plants and animals. They vary in length, being as small as 350 residues and as large as 850 residues. The smaller proteins are generally of prokaryotic origin while the larger ones are of eukaryotic origin. Most of them possess twelve transmembrane α-helical spanners but have a re-entrant loop involving TMSs 2 and 3. The APC Superfamily was established to encompass a wider range of homologues.

The Hydroxy/Aromatic Amino Acid Permease (HAAAP) Family is a member of the large Amino Acid-Polyamine-OrganoCation (APC) Superfamily of secondary carriers. Members of the HAAAP family all function in amino acid uptake. Homologues are present in a large number of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, with at least one member classified from archaea .

The potassium (K+) uptake permease (KUP) family (TC# 2.A.72) is a member of the APC superfamily of secondary carriers. Proteins of the KUP/HAK/KT family include the KUP (TrkD) protein of E. coli and homologues in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. High affinity (20 μM) K+ uptake systems (Hak1, TC# 2.A.72.2.1) of the yeast Debaryomyces occidentalis as well as the fungus, Neurospora crassa, and several homologues in plants have been characterized. Arabidopsis thaliana and other plants possess multiple KUP family paralogues. While many plant proteins cluster tightly together, the Hak1 proteins from yeast as well as the two Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial proteins are distantly related on the phylogenetic tree for the KUP family. All currently classified members of the KUP family can be found in the Transporter Classification Database.

Arsenite-antimonite transporters are membrane transporters that pump arsenite or antimonite out of a cell. Antimonite is the salt of antimony and has been found to significantly impact the toxicity of arsenite. The similar structure of As(III) and Sb(III) makes it plausible that certain transporters function in the efflux of both substrates. Arsenic efflux transporters exist in almost every organism and serve to remove this toxic compound from the cell.

Divalent anion:Na+ symporters were found in bacteria, archaea, plant chloroplasts and animals.

The Citrate-Mg2+:H+ (CitM) / Citrate-Ca2+:H+ (CitH) Symporter (CitMHS) Family (TC# 2.A.11) is a family of transport proteins belonging to the Ion transporter superfamily. Members of this family are found in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, archaea and possibly eukaryotes. These proteins all probably arose by an internal gene duplication event. Lensbouer & Doyle (2010) have reviewed these systems, classifying the porters with three superfamilies, according to ion-preference:

The C4-dicarboxylate uptake family or Dcu family is a family of transmembrane ion transporters found in bacteria. Their function is to exchange dicarboxylates such as aspartate, malate, fumarate and succinate.

The C4-dicarboxylate uptake C family or DcuC family (TC# 2.A.61) is a family of transmembrane ion transporters found in bacteria. A representative list of proteins belonging to the DcuC family can be found in the Transporter Classification Database.

The Bile/Arsenite/Riboflavin Transporter (BART) superfamily is a superfamily of ubiquitous transport proteins. As of early 2016, the superfamily contains seven established families. Functional data for members of all of these families are available. The seven families are in the Transporter Classification Database with the following TC numbers, names and abbreviations include:

Arsenite resistance (Ars) efflux pumps of bacteria may consist of two proteins, ArsB and ArsA, or of one protein. ArsA proteins have two ATP binding domains and probably arose by a tandem gene duplication event. ArsB proteins all possess twelve transmembrane spanners and may also have arisen by a tandem gene duplication event. Structurally, the Ars pumps resemble ABC-type efflux pumps, but there is no significant sequence similarity between the Ars and ABC pumps. When only ArsB is present, the system operates by a pmf-dependent mechanism, and consequently belongs in TC subclass 2.A. When ArsA is also present, ATP hydrolysis drives efflux, and consequently the system belongs in TC subclass 3.A. ArsB therefore appears twice in the TC system but ArsA appears only once. These pumps actively expel both arsenite and antimonite.

The arsenical resistance-3 (ACR3) family is a member of the BART superfamily. Based on operon analyses, ARC3 homologues may function either as secondary carriers or as primary active transporters, similarly to the ArsB and ArsAB families. In the latter case ATP hydrolysis again energizes transport. ARC3 homologues transport the same anions as ArsA/AB homologues, though ArsB homologues are members of the IT Superfamily and homologues of the ARC3 family are within the BART Superfamily suggesting they may not be evolutionarily related.

References

  1. Prakash S, Cooper G, Singhi S, Saier MH (December 2003). "The ion transporter superfamily". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes. 1618 (1): 79–92. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2003.10.010 . PMID   14643936.
  2. Chen JS, Reddy V, Chen JH, Shlykov MA, Zheng WH, Cho J, Yen MR, Saier MH (2011-01-01). "Phylogenetic characterization of transport protein superfamilies: superiority of SuperfamilyTree programs over those based on multiple alignments". Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. 21 (3–4): 83–96. doi:10.1159/000334611. PMC   3290041 . PMID   22286036.