L amino acid transporter structure and molecular bases for the asymmetry of substrate interaction

Abstract

L-Amino acid Transporters (LATs) are asymmetric amino acid exchangers. Here the authors determine the crystal structure of a prokaryotic LAT, the alanine-serine-cysteine exchanger (BasC) and identify key residues for asymmetric substrate interaction in both BasC and the homologous human transporter Asc-1 through functional studies.