Publications

• Taurine uptake across the human intestinal brush-border membrane is via two transporters: H+-coupled PAT1 (SLC36A1) and Na+- and Cl(-)-dependent TauT (SLC6A6).

  Anderson C.M., Howard A., Walters J.R., Ganapathy V., Thwaites D.T.

  Taurine is an essential amino acid in some mammals and is conditionally essential in humans. Taurine is an abundant component of meat and fish-based foods and has been used as an oral supplement in the treatment of disorders such as cystic fibrosis and hypertension. The purpose of this investigati ... >> More

  Taurine is an essential amino acid in some mammals and is conditionally essential in humans. Taurine is an abundant component of meat and fish-based foods and has been used as an oral supplement in the treatment of disorders such as cystic fibrosis and hypertension. The purpose of this investigation was to identity the relative contributions of the solute transporters involved in taurine uptake across the luminal membrane of human enterocytes. Distinct transport characteristics were revealed following expression of the candidate solute transporters in Xenopus laevis oocytes: PAT1 (SLC36A1) is a H(+)-coupled, pH-dependent, Na(+)- and Cl(-)-independent, low-affinity, high-capacity transporter for taurine and beta-alanine; TauT (SLC6A6) is a Na(+)- and Cl(-)-dependent, high-affinity, low-capacity transporter of taurine and beta-alanine; ATB(0,+) (SLC6A14) is a Na(+)- and Cl(-)-dependent, high-affinity, low-capacity transporter which accepts beta-alanine but not taurine. Taurine uptake across the brush-border membrane of human intestinal Caco-2 cell monolayers showed characteristics of both PAT1- and TauT-mediated transport. Under physiological conditions, Cl(-)-dependent TauT-mediated uptake predominates at low taurine concentrations, whereas at higher concentrations typical of diet, Cl(-)-independent PAT1-mediated uptake is the major absorptive mechanism. Real-time PCR analysis of human duodenal and ileal biopsy samples demonstrates that PAT1, TauT and ATB(0,+) mRNA are expressed in each tissue but to varying degrees. In conclusion, this study is the first to demonstrate both taurine uptake via PAT1 and functional coexpression of PAT1 and TauT at the apical membrane of the human intestinal epithelium. PAT1 may be responsible for bulk taurine uptake during a meal whereas TauT may be important for taurine supply to the intestinal epithelium and for taurine capture between meals. << Less

  J Physiol 587:731-744(2009) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 1 other entry.

• Molecular characterization and in situ localization of a mouse retinal taurine transporter.

  Vinnakota S., Qian X., Egal H., Sarthy V., Sarkar H.K.

  Various ocular tissues have a higher concentration of taurine than plasma. This taurine concentration gradient across the cell membrane is maintained by a high-affinity taurine transporter. To understand the physiological role of the taurine transporter in the retina, we cloned a taurine transport ... >> More

  Various ocular tissues have a higher concentration of taurine than plasma. This taurine concentration gradient across the cell membrane is maintained by a high-affinity taurine transporter. To understand the physiological role of the taurine transporter in the retina, we cloned a taurine transporter encoding cDNA from a mouse retinal library, determined its biochemical and pharmacological properties, and identified the specific cellular sites expressing the taurine transporter mRNA. The deduced protein sequence of the mouse retinal taurine transporter (mTAUT) revealed >93% sequence identity to the canine kidney, rat brain, mouse brain, and human placental taurine transporters. Our data suggest that the mTAUT and the mouse brain taurine transporter may be variants of one another. The mTAUT synthetic RNA induced Na+- and Cl(-)-dependent [3H]taurine transport activity in Xenopus laevis oocytes that saturated with an average Km of 13.2 microM for taurine. Unlike the previous studies, we determined the rate of taurine uptake as the external concentration of Cl-was varied, a single saturation process with an average apparent equilibrium constant (K(Cl-)) of 17.7 mM. In contrast, the rate of taurine uptake showed a sigmoidal dependence when the external concentration of Na+ was varied (apparent equilibrium constant, K(Na+) approximately 54.8 mM). Analyses of the Na+- and Cl(-)-concentration dependence data suggest that at least two Na+ and one Cl-are required to transport one taurine molecule via the taurine transporter. Varying the pH of the transport buffer also affected the rate of taurine uptake; the rate showed a minimum between pH 6.0 and 6.5 and a maximum between pH 7.5 and 8.0. The taurine transport was inhibited by various inhibitors tested with the following order of potency: hypotaurine > beta-alanine > L-diaminopropionic acid > guanidinoethane sulfonate > beta-guanidinopropionic acid > chloroquine > gamma-aminobutyric acid > 3-amino-1-propanesulfonic acid (homotaurine). Furthermore, the mTAUT activity was not inhibited by the inactive phorbol ester 4alpha-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate but was inhibited significantly by the active phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, which was both concentration and time dependent. The cellular sites expressing the taurine transporter mRNA in the mouse eye, as determined by in situ hybridization technique, showed low levels of expression in many of the ocular tissues, specifically the retina and the retinal pigment epithelium. Unexpectedly, the highest expression levels of taurine transporter mRNA were found instead in the ciliary body of the mouse eye. << Less

  J. Neurochem. 69:2238-2250(1997) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Functional characterization and chromosomal localization of a cloned taurine transporter from human placenta.

  Ramamoorthy S., Leibach F.H., Mahesh V.B., Han H., Yang-Feng T., Blakely R.D., Ganapathy V.

  A cDNA clone highly related to the rat brain taurine transporter has been isolated from a human placental cDNA library. Transfection of this cDNA into HeLa cells results in a marked elevation of taurine transport activity. The activity of the cDNA-induced transporter is dependent on the presence o ... >> More

  A cDNA clone highly related to the rat brain taurine transporter has been isolated from a human placental cDNA library. Transfection of this cDNA into HeLa cells results in a marked elevation of taurine transport activity. The activity of the cDNA-induced transporter is dependent on the presence of Na+ as well as Cl-. The Na+/Cl-/taurine stoichiometry for the cloned transporter is 2:1:1. The transporter is specific for taurine and other beta-amino acids, including beta-alanine, and exhibits high affinity for taurine (Michaelis-Menten constant approximately 6 microM). The clone consists of a coding region 1863 bp long (including the termination codon), flanked by a 376 bp-long 5' non-coding region and a 625 bp-long 3' non-coding region. The nucleotide sequence of the coding region predicts a 620-amino acid protein with a calculated M(r) of 69,853. Northern-blot analysis of poly(A)+ RNA from several human tissues indicates a complex expression pattern differing across tissues. The principal transcript, 6.9 kb in size, is expressed abundantly in placenta and skeletal muscle, at intermediate levels in heart, brain, lung, kidney and pancreas and at low levels in liver. Cultured human cell lines derived from placenta (JAR and BeWo), intestine (HT-29), cervix (HeLa) and retinal pigment epithelium (HRPE), which are known to possess Na(+)- and Cl(-)-coupled taurine transport activity, also contain the 6.9 kb transcript. Somatic cell hybrid and in situ hybridization studies indicate that the cloned taurine transporter is localized to human chromosome 3 p24-->p26. << Less

  Biochem. J. 300:893-900(1994) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 3 other entries.