Structurally reduced monosaccharide transporters in an evolutionarily conserved red alga.

ABSTRACT: The unicellular red alga Galdieria sulphuraria is a facultative heterotrophic member of the Cyanidiaceae, a group of evolutionary highly conserved extremophilic red algae. Uptake of various sugars and polyols is accomplished by a large number of distinct plasma membrane transporters. We have cloned three transporters [GsSPT1 (G. sulphuraria sugar and polyol transporter 1), GsSPT2 and GsSPT4], followed their transcriptional regulation and assayed their transport capacities in the heterologous yeast system. SPT1 is a conserved type of sugar/H(+) symporter with 12 predicted transmembrane-spanning domains, whereas SPT2 and SPT4 represent monosaccharide transporters, characterized by only nine hydrophobic domains. Surprisingly, all three proteins are functional plasma membrane transporters, as

SUBMITTER: Schilling S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1948957 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature