Aphid amino acid transporter regulates glutamine supply to intracellular bacterial symbionts.

ABSTRACT: Endosymbiotic associations have played a major role in evolution. However, the molecular basis for the biochemical interdependence of these associations remains poorly understood. The aphid-Buchnera endosymbiosis provides a powerful system to elucidate how these symbioses are regulated. In aphids, the supply of essential amino acids depends on an ancient nutritional symbiotic association with the gamma-proteobacterium Buchnera aphidicola. Buchnera cells are densely packed in specialized aphid bacteriocyte cells. Here we confirm that five putative amino acid transporters are highly expressed and/or highly enriched in Acyrthosiphon pisum bacteriocyte tissues. When expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, two bacteriocyte amino acid transporters displayed significant levels of glutamine uptake, w

SUBMITTER: Price DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3890774 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature