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PLASTID MEMBRANE TRANSPORT

Sometimes a rocker-switch motion

Nature Plants volume 3, pages 771–772 (2017)Cite this article

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Plastids are integrated into the cellular metabolism by several metabolite and ion transporters. The first crystal structure of one of these transporters, a member of the plastid phosphate transporter family, unravels a rocker-switch transport mode and serves as lead structure for other plastidial and endomembrane system transporters.

Eukaryotic cells gained the capacity to conduct oxygenic photosynthesis approximately 1.6 billion years ago through acquisition of a cyanobacterium and its subsequent conversion into a semi-autonomous organelle, the plastid, in the process of endosymbiosis1. Plastids not only conduct photosynthesis but also harbour a plethora of other essential biosynthetic routes. Metabolite transporters residing in the inner of the two envelope membranes that enclose the organelle connect plastidial with cellular metabolism. Understanding metabolite transport between plastid and cytosol is hence crucial for understanding plant metabolism. The family of plastid phosphate translocators (pPTs) transport inorganic phosphate (Pi) and several phosphorylated metabolites as counter substrates2. Based on their substrate specificities, the pPTs can be separated into four different subfamilies, the triose phosphate translocators (TPT), the phosphoenolpyruvate translocators (PPT), the glucose-6-phosphate translocators (GPT) and the xylulose phosphate translocators (XPT). In this issue of Nature Plants, Lee et al.3 present the crystal structure of the GPT from the thermoacidophilic red alga Galdieria sulphuraria. The transporter protein from this thermophilic alga showed excellent solution behaviour, thereby facilitating crystallization, and it serves as a lead and proxy for the structures of the other pPT family members.

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Fig. 1: Function and evolutionary relationships of plastidial phosphate translocators.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, The Arctic University of Tromsø, Framstedet 39, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Karsten Fischer

  2. Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Andreas P. M. Weber

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  1. Karsten Fischer
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  2. Andreas P. M. Weber
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Correspondence to Karsten Fischer or Andreas P. M. Weber.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Fischer, K., Weber, A.P.M. Sometimes a rocker-switch motion. Nature Plants 3, 771–772 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-017-0026-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-017-0026-4

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