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Vesicular GABA transporter ( VGAT ) transports β‐alanine
Author(s) -
Juge Narinobu,
Omote Hiroshi,
Moriyama Yoshinori
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/jnc.12393
Subject(s) - alanine , transporter , biochemistry , glycine , neurotransmitter transporter , biology , vesicular transport protein , gaba transporter , amino acid , microbiology and biotechnology , membrane , vesicle , gene
Vesicular GABA transporter ( VGAT ) is expressed in GABA ergic and glycinergic neurons, and is responsible for vesicular storage and subsequent exocytosis of these inhibitory amino acids. In this study, we show that VGAT recognizes β‐alanine as a substrate. Proteoliposomes containing purified VGAT transport β‐alanine using Δψ but not ΔpH as a driving force. The Δψ‐driven β‐alanine uptake requires Cl − . VGAT also facilitates Cl − uptake in the presence of β‐alanine. A previously described VGAT mutant (Glu213Ala) that disrupts GABA and glycine transport similarly abrogates β‐alanine uptake. These findings indicated that VGAT transports β‐alanine through a mechanism similar to those for GABA and glycine, and functions as a vesicular β‐alanine transporter.Vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) is expressed in GABAergic and glycinergic neurons, and is responsible for vesicular storage and subsequent exocytosis of these inhibitory amino acids. In the present study, we showed that proteoliposomes containing purified VGAT transport β‐alanine using Δψ as a driving force. VGAT also facilitates Cl − uptake. Our findings indicated that VGAT functions as a vesicular β‐alanine transporter.