Solute carrier family 17 members 6, 7, and 8 (also called Vesicular glutamate transporters) of the Major Facilitator Superfamily of transporters
This subfamily is composed of solute carrier family 17 member 6 (SLC17A6), SLC17A7, SLC17A8, and similar proteins. SLC17A6 is also called vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGluT2), differentiation-associated BNPI, or differentiation-associated Na(+)-dependent inorganic phosphate cotransporter. SLC17A7 is also called VGluT1 or brain-specific Na(+)-dependent inorganic phosphate cotransporter. SLC17A8 is also called VGluT3. They mediate the uptake of glutamate into synaptic vesicles at presynaptic nerve terminals of excitatory neural cells, and may also mediate the transport of inorganic phosphate. VGluTs are also expressed and localized in various secretory vesicles in non-neuronal peripheral organelles such as hormone-containing secretory granules in endocrine cells, and thus, also act as metabolic regulators. The VGluT subfamily belongs to the Solute carrier 17 (SLC17) family of the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) of membrane transport proteins. MFS proteins are thought to function through a single substrate binding site, alternating-access mechanism involving a rocker-switch type of movement.
Feature 1:putative chemical substrate binding pocket [chemical binding site]
Evidence:
Comment:based on the structures of MFS transporters with bound substrates, substrate analogs, and/or inhibitors
Comment:since MFS proteins facilitate the transport of many different substrates including ions, sugar phosphates, drugs, neurotransmitters, nucleosides, amino acids, and peptides, the residues involved in substrate binding may not be strictly conserved among superfamily members
Comment:the substrate binding site or translocation pore has access to both sides of the membrane in an alternating fashion through a conformational change of the MFS transporter
Jiyao W et al.(2023). "The conserved domain database in 2023.",