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Heteromeric Solute Carriers: Function, Structure, Pathology and Pharmacology

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Protein Reviews

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((PROTRE,volume 21))

Abstract

Solute carriers form one of three major superfamilies of membrane transporters in humans, and include uniporters, exchangers and symporters. Following several decades of molecular characterisation, multiple solute carriers that form obligatory heteromers with unrelated subunits are emerging as a distinctive principle of membrane transporter assembly. Here we comprehensively review experimentally established heteromeric solute carriers: SLC3-SLC7 amino acid exchangers, SLC16 monocarboxylate/H+ symporters and basigin/embigin, SLC4A1 (AE1) and glycophorin A exchanger, SLC51 heteromer Ost α-Ost β uniporter, and SLC6 heteromeric symporters. The review covers the history of the heteromer discovery, transporter physiology, structure, disease associations and pharmacology – all with a focus on the heteromeric assembly. The cellular locations, requirements for complex formation, and the functional role of dimerization are extensively detailed, including analysis of the first complete heteromer structures, the SLC7-SLC3 family transporters LAT1-4F2hc, b0,+AT-rBAT and the SLC6 family heteromer B0AT1-ACE2. We present a systematic analysis of the structural and functional aspects of heteromeric solute carriers and conclude with common principles of their functional roles and structural architecture.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This distinction is important as numerous publications use the residue numbering of either isoform 1 or 2 without distinguishing between them. Isoform 2 (UniPROT P08195-2) differs from isoform 1 (UniPROT P08195-1) by having cytosolic, N-terminal residues 1–101 missing.

  2. 2.

    Note that the numbering used in both structure publications are derived from UniPROT designated isoform 1 of human 4F2hc (P08195-1). However, there are also minor mistakes in each manuscript: Nureki and colleagues have mislabelled 4F2hc R434 as R511 when describing the Cβ2/Cβ3/Cβ8-linker-EL2 interaction network, while Yan and colleagues have miss-assigned all 4F2hc residues by an increase of 1 in their manuscript.

  3. 3.

    Note: the residue numbering quoted for glycophorin A in publications cited here was based on the protein sequence less residues 1–19, the signal peptide (i.e. 131 residues). The correct numbering of the full 150 residue glycophorin A amino acid sequence is given in brackets.

  4. 4.

    Type IV have the same orientation as type II except the C-terminal TM domain is a signal anchor.

  5. 5.

    As collectrin and ACE2 are located on the X chromosome, the male collectrin/ACE2 null mouse is a (−/y) genotype while the female is a collectrin/ACE2 mouse (−/−).

Abbreviations

AA:

Amino Acids

APC:

Amino Acid-Polyamine-Organocation Transporter Family

APN:

Aminopeptidase N

ACE2:

Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2

AE1:

Anion Exchanger 1

mAbs:

monoclonal Antibodies

ADHD:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ASD:

Autism Spectrum Disorder

BCH:

2-aminobicyclo-(2,2,1)-heptane-2-carboxylic acid

B0AT1/3:

Broad Neutral Amino acid Transporter 1/3

CA:

Carbonic Anhydrase

CD:

Cluster of Differentiation

CHS:

Cholesterol hemisuccinate

DHEAS:

Dehydroepiandrosterone

DAT:

Dopamine Transporter

EC:

Extracellular

ER:

Endoplasmic Reticulum

ERAD:

Endoplasmic Reticulum Associated Degradation

FGF:

Fibroblast Growth Factor

FXR:

Farnesoid X receptor

GAT:

GABA Transporter

GSH:

Glutathione

GLYT1/2:

Glycine Transporter 1/2

GPA/B/C:

Glycophorin A/B/C

HS:

Hereditary Spherocytosis

HMM:

Hidden Markov Model

ISF:

Insulin Sensitivity Factor

KO:

Knock-out

L-DOPA:

L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine

LPI:

Lysinuria Protein Intolerance

MeAIB:

Methylaminoisobutyric acid

MCT:

Monocarboxylate Transporter

NFPS:

N-[3-(4′-fluorophenyl)-3-(4′-phenylphenoxy)-propyl]sarcosine

NET:

Noradrenaline Epinephrine Transporter

NSS:

Neurotransmitter Sodium Symporter

OMIM:

Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man

pCMBS:

p-chloromercuribenzene sulphonate

PPI:

Protein-Protein Interaction

RBC:

Red Blood Cell

dRTA:

distal Renal Tubular Acidosis

RPE:

Retinal Pigment Epithelium

RdCVF:

Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor

SERT:

Serotonin Transporter

SAO:

Southeast Asian Ovalcytosis

SAR:

Stramenopiles [heterokonts] Alveolates and Rhizaria supergroup

TCDB:

Transporter Classification Database

TM:

Transmembrane

T3:

Triiodothyronine

T4:

Thyroxine

TEM:

Transmission Electron Microscopy

VDW:

Van der Waals

YFP:

Yellow Fluorescent Protein

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the members of the Bröer Laboratory of Membrane Transporters and Nutrition at the Australian National University for feedback and comments. We also acknowledge and thank Professor Manuel Palacin and Dr. Ekaitz Errasti in the Amino Acid Transporters and Disease Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) for providing their models of LAT2-4F2hc. We have attempted to write the first comprehensive review on the subject of heteromeric solute carriers. We apologise for the omission of any relevant references, which is unintentional, and encourage authors to contact us in order that we can rectify any omissions for future updated additions of the review.

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Correspondence to Stephen J. Fairweather or Stefan Brӧer .

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Fairweather, S.J., Shah, N., Brӧer, S. (2020). Heteromeric Solute Carriers: Function, Structure, Pathology and Pharmacology. In: Atassi, M.Z. (eds) Protein Reviews . Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2020_584

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