A family of basic amino acid transporters of the vacuolar membrane from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

J Biol Chem. 2005 Feb 11;280(6):4851-7. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M412617200. Epub 2004 Nov 30.

Abstract

Among the members of the major facilitator superfamily of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we identified genes involved in the transport into vacuoles of the basic amino acids histidine, lysine, and arginine. ATP-dependent uptake of histidine and lysine by isolated vacuolar membrane vesicles was impaired in YMR088c, a vacuolar basic amino acid transporter 1 (VBA1)-deleted strain, whereas uptake of tyrosine or calcium was little affected. This defect in histidine and lysine uptake was complemented fully by introducing the VBA1 gene and partially by a gene encoding Vba1p fused with green fluorescent protein, which was determined to localize exclusively to the vacuolar membrane. A defect in the uptake of histidine, lysine, or arginine was also observed in the vacuolar membrane vesicles of mutants YBR293w (VBA2) and YCL069w (VBA3). These three VBA genes are closely related phylogenetically and constitute a new family of basic amino acid transporters in the yeast vacuole.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphate / chemistry
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Arginine / chemistry
  • Biological Transport
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Gene Deletion
  • Genetic Complementation Test
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Histidine / chemistry
  • Lysine / chemistry
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation
  • Open Reading Frames
  • Phylogeny
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism*
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Time Factors
  • Tyrosine / chemistry
  • Vacuoles / chemistry
  • Vacuoles / metabolism*

Substances

  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Tyrosine
  • Histidine
  • Adenosine Triphosphate
  • Arginine
  • Lysine
  • Calcium