skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A partially-open inward-facing intermediate conformation of LeuT is associated with Na+ release and substrate transport

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [1]
  1. Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics
  2. Columbia Univ. College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York State Psychiatric Inst, New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Psychiatry
  3. Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics and HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulazaz Alsaud Inst. for Computational Biomedicine
  4. Columbia Univ. College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York State Psychiatric Inst, New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Psychiatry and Dept. of Pharmacology

Here, neurotransmitter:sodium symporters (NSS), targets of antidepressants and psychostimulants, clear neurotransmitters from the synaptic cleft through sodium (Na+)-coupled transport. Substrate and Na+ are thought to be transported from the extracellular to intracellular space through an alternating access mechanism by coordinated conformational rearrangements in the symporter that alternately expose the binding sites to each side of the membrane. However, the mechanism by which the binding of ligands coordinates conformational changes occurring on opposite sides of the membrane is not well understood. Here, we report the use of single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) techniques to image transitions between distinct conformational states on both the extracellular and intracellular sides of the prokaryotic NSS LeuT, including partially open intermediates associated with transport activity. The nature and functional context of these hitherto unidentified intermediate states shed new light on the allosteric mechanism that couples substrate and Na+ symport by the NSS family through conformational dynamics.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1489406
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 30 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (52)

X-ray structures of LeuT in substrate-free outward-open and apo inward-open states journal January 2012
Simple Allosteric Model for Membrane Pumps journal August 1966
Energy landscape of LeuT from molecular simulations journal December 2015
Transition metal ion FRET uncovers K+ regulation of a neurotransmitter/sodium symporter journal September 2016
The Allostery Landscape: Quantifying Thermodynamic Couplings in Biomolecular Systems journal November 2016
Visualizing Functional Motions of Membrane Transporters with Molecular Dynamics Simulations journal January 2013
Mechanisms of amphetamine action illuminated through optical monitoring of dopamine synaptic vesicles in Drosophila brain journal February 2016
Computational approaches to detect allosteric pathways in transmembrane molecular machines journal July 2016
High-Affinity Adaptors for Switchable Recognition of Histidine-Tagged Proteins journal July 2005
Unlocking the molecular secrets of sodium-coupled transporters journal May 2009
Ultra-stable organic fluorophores for single-molecule research journal January 2014
The use of LeuT as a model in elucidating binding sites for substrates and inhibitors in neurotransmitter transporters journal March 2015
Single-molecule imaging of non-equilibrium molecular ensembles on the millisecond timescale journal February 2016
The bright future of single-molecule fluorescence imaging journal June 2014
Crystal structure of a bacterial homologue of Na+/Cl--dependent neurotransmitter transporters journal July 2005
Comparative Protein Structure Modeling Using MODELLER journal September 2014
A mechanism for intracellular release of Na+ by neurotransmitter/sodium symporters journal October 2014
Radioligand Binding to Nanodisc-Reconstituted Membrane Transporters Assessed by the Scintillation Proximity Assay journal December 2013
A Competitive Inhibitor Traps LeuT in an Open-to-Out Conformation journal December 2008
Common Folds and Transport Mechanisms of Secondary Active Transporters journal May 2013
Lactose Permease and the Alternating Access Mechanism journal November 2011
The Environment Shapes the Inner Vestibule of LeuT journal November 2016
Conformational dynamics of ligand-dependent alternating access in LeuT journal April 2014
Empirical Bayes Methods Enable Advanced Population-Level Analyses of Single-Molecule FRET Experiments journal March 2014
Noise reduction in single-molecule fluorescence trajectories of folding proteins journal December 2004
Allosteric Mechanisms of Molecular Machines at the Membrane: Transport by Sodium-Coupled Symporters journal February 2016
The Mechanism of a Neurotransmitter:Sodium Symporter—Inward Release of Na+ and Substrate Is Triggered by Substrate in a Second Binding Site journal June 2008
Alternating access mechanisms of LeuT-fold transporters: trailblazing towards the promised energy landscapes journal August 2017
The cost of living in the membrane: A case study of hydrophobic mismatch for the multi-segment protein LeuT journal April 2013
X-ray structure of dopamine transporter elucidates antidepressant mechanism journal September 2013
Transport domain unlocking sets the uptake rate of an aspartate transporter journal February 2015
X-ray structures and mechanism of the human serotonin transporter journal April 2016
A practical guide to single-molecule FRET journal May 2008
Substrate-modulated gating dynamics in a Na+-coupled neurotransmitter transporter homologue journal April 2011
Single-molecule dynamics of gating in a neurotransmitter transporter homologue journal May 2010
Mechanism for alternating access in neurotransmitter transporters journal July 2008
Conformational dynamics of a neurotransmitter:sodium symporter in a lipid bilayer journal February 2017
Plasma membrane monoamine transporters: structure, regulation and function journal January 2003
Experimental conditions can obscure the second high-affinity site in LeuT journal January 2012
Complete Mapping of Substrate Translocation Highlights the Role of LeuT N-terminal Segment in Regulating Transport Cycle journal October 2014
A Markov State-based Quantitative Kinetic Model of Sodium Release from the Dopamine Transporter journal January 2017
Substrate-dependent proton antiport in neurotransmitter:sodium symporters journal December 2009
Neurotransmitter transporters and their impact on the development of psychopharmacology: Neurotransmitter transporters journal January 2006
The Allostery Landscape: Quantifying Thermodynamic Couplings in Biomolecular Systems journal February 2017
Comparative Protein Structure Modeling Using MODELLER journal November 2016
Mechanisms of amphetamine action illuminated through optical monitoring of dopamine synaptic vesicles in Drosophila brain text January 2016
Restoration of Single-Channel Currents Using the Segmental k-Means Method Based on Hidden Markov Modeling journal March 2004
Neurotransmitter transporters as molecular targets for addictive drugs journal June 1998
Serotonin transporter–ibogaine complexes illuminate mechanisms of inhibition and transport journal April 2019
Mechanism of the Association between Na + Binding and Conformations at the Intracellular Gate in Neurotransmitter:Sodium Symporters journal April 2015
Substrate-induced Unlocking of the Inner Gate Determines the Catalytic Efficiency of a Neurotransmitter:Sodium Symporter journal September 2015
Two Na + Sites Control Conformational Change in a Neurotransmitter Transporter Homolog journal November 2015

Cited By (15)

Multivalent Chelators for In Vivo Protein Labeling journal March 2019
Multivalent Chelators for In Vivo Protein Labeling journal June 2019
The Amino Terminus of LeuT Changes Conformation in an Environment Sensitive Manner journal December 2019
Substrate-induced conformational dynamics of the dopamine transporter journal June 2019
Serotonin transporter–ibogaine complexes illuminate mechanisms of inhibition and transport journal April 2019
Locking Two Rigid-body Bundles in an Outward-Facing Conformation: The Ion-coupling Mechanism in a LeuT-fold Transporter journal December 2019
Structural elements required for coupling ion and substrate transport in the neurotransmitter transporter homolog LeuT journal September 2018
The allosteric mechanism of substrate-specific transport in SLC6 is mediated by a volumetric sensor journal July 2019
Serotonin transport in the 21st century journal September 2019
Tales of tails in transporters journal June 2019
Modeling and Dynamics of the Inward-Facing State of a Na+/Cl− Dependent Neurotransmitter Transporter Homologue journal August 2010
Proton Control of Transitions in an Amino Acid Transporter journal October 2019
Plasmon Rulers as a Probe for Real-Time Microsecond Conformational Dynamics of Single Molecules journal November 2018
X-ray structure of LeuT in an inward-facing occluded conformation reveals mechanism of substrate release journal February 2020
Site-Directed Fluorescence Approaches for Dynamic Structural Biology of Membrane Peptides and Proteins journal September 2019

Figures / Tables (5)


Similar Records

Related Subjects