The wheat ABC transporter Lr34 modifies the lipid environment at the plasma membrane.

Phospholipids (PLs) are emerging as important factors that initiate signal transduction cascades at the plasma membrane. Their distribution within biological membranes is tightly regulated, by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, which preferably translocate PLs from the cytoplasmic to the exoplasmic membrane leaflet and are therefore called PL-floppases. Here, we demonstrate that a plant ABC transporter, Lr34 from wheat (), is involved in plasma membrane remodeling characterized by an intracellular accumulation of phosphatidic acid and enhanced outward translocation of phosphatidylserine.

Biochemical characterization and structure-function relationship of two plant NCS2 proteins, the nucleobase transporters NAT3 and NAT12 from Arabidopsis thaliana.

Nucleobase ascorbate transporters (NATs), also known as Nucleobase:Cation-Symporter 2 (NCS2) proteins, belong to an evolutionary widespread family of transport proteins with members in nearly all domains of life. We present the biochemical characterization of two NAT proteins, NAT3 and NAT12 from Arabidopsis thaliana after their heterologous expression in Escherichia coli UraA knockout mutants. Both proteins were shown to transport adenine, guanine and uracil with high affinities.

Structure-function relationship of a plant NCS1 member--homology modeling and mutagenesis identified residues critical for substrate specificity of PLUTO, a nucleobase transporter from Arabidopsis.

Plastidic uracil salvage is essential for plant growth and development. So far, PLUTO, the plastidic nucleobase transporter from Arabidopsis thaliana is the only known uracil importer at the inner plastidic membrane which represents the permeability barrier of this organelle. We present the first homology model of PLUTO, the sole plant NCS1 member from Arabidopsis based on the crystal structure of the benzyl hydantoin transporter MHP1 from Microbacterium liquefaciens and validated by molecular dynamics simulations.