Direct visualization of glutamate transporter elevator mechanism by high-speed AFM.

ABSTRACT: Glutamate transporters are essential for recovery of the neurotransmitter glutamate from the synaptic cleft. Crystal structures in the outward- and inward-facing conformations of a glutamate transporter homolog from archaebacterium Pyrococcus horikoshii, sodium/aspartate symporter Glt_Ph, suggested the molecular basis of the transporter cycle. However, dynamic studies of the transport mechanism have been sparse and indirect. Here we present high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) observations of membrane-reconstituted Glt_Ph at work. HS-AFM movies provide unprecedented real-space and real-time visualization of the transport dynamics. Our results show transport mediated by large amplitude 1.85-nm "elevator" movements of the transport domains consistent with pr

SUBMITTER: Ruan Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5320997 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature