Detailed characterization of the UMAMITs proteins provides insight into their evolution, amino acid transport properties, and role in the plant

Amino acid transporters play a critical role in distributing amino acids within the cell compartments and between the plant organs. Despite this importance, relatively few amino acid transporter genes have been characterized and their role elucidated with certainty. Two main families of proteins encode amino acid transporters in plants: the Amino Acid-Polyamine-Organocation superfamily, containing mostly importers, and the Usually Multiple Acids Move In and out Transporter family, apparently encoding exporters, totaling 63 and 44 genes in Arabidopsis, respectively. Knowledge on UMAMITs is scarce, based on six Arabidopsis genes and a handful of genes from other species. To get insight into the role of the members of this family and provide data to be used for future characterization, we studied the evolution of the UMAMITs in plants, and determined the functional properties, the structure, and the localization of the 47 Arabidopsis UMAMITs. Our analysis showed that the AtUMAMITs are esse...