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MBE Advance Access originally published online on August 3, 2009
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2009 26(11):2407-2414; doi:10.1093/molbev/msp168
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Review

Functioning and Evolutionary Significance of Nutrient Transceptors

Johan M. Thevelein*,{dagger} and Karin Voordeckers*,{dagger}

* Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute of Botany and Microbiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven-Heverlee, Flanders, Belgium
{dagger} Department of Molecular Microbiology, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), Leuven-Heverlee, Flanders, Belgium

E-mail: johan.thevelein{at}mmbio.vib-kuleuven.be.

Accepted for publication July 22, 2009.

The discovery of nutrient transceptors, transporter-like proteins with a receptor function, suggests that receptors for chemical signals may have been derived in evolution from nutrient transporters. Several examples are now available of nutrient transporters with an additional nutrient signaling function, nutrient receptors with a transporter-like sequence and structure but without transport capacity, and G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) that have nutrients as ligands. Recent results have revealed that transceptor signaling requires a specific ligand-induced conformational change, which indicates that transceptors function in a similar way as regular receptors. Advanced bioinformatic analysis for detection of homology in distantly related proteins identifies the nontransporting glucose transceptor Rgt2 as the closest homologue of the glucose-sensing GPCR Gpr1 in yeast. This supports an intermediate position for nutrient transceptors in evolution, between nutrient transporters and classical receptors for chemical signals.

Key Words: nutrient sensing • transporter • receptor evolution • signal transduction

Michele Vendruscolo, Associate Editor


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