The SLC38 family of transporters appears to be responsible for the functionally-defined system A and system N mechanisms of amino acid transport and are mostly expressed in the CNS. Two distinct subfamilies are identifiable within the SLC38 transporters. SNAT1, SNAT2 and SNAT4 appear to resemble system A transporters in accumulating neutral amino acids under the influence of the sodium gradient. SNAT3 and SNAT5 appear to resemble system N transporters in utilizing proton co-transport to accumulate amino acids. The predicted membrane topology is of 11 TM domains with an extracellular C-terminus and intracellular N-terminus [1].

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* Key recommended reading is highlighted with an asterisk

* Bhutia YD, Ganapathy V. (2016) Glutamine transporters in mammalian cells and their functions in physiology and cancer. Biochim Biophys Acta, 1863 (10): 2531-9. [PMID:26724577]

* Bröer S. (2014) The SLC38 family of sodium-amino acid co-transporters. Pflugers Arch, 466 (1): 155-72. [PMID:24193407]

* Bröer S, Palacín M. (2011) The role of amino acid transporters in inherited and acquired diseases. Biochem J, 436 (2): 193-211. [PMID:21568940]

* Hägglund MG, Sreedharan S, Nilsson VC, Shaik JH, Almkvist IM, Bäcklin S, Wrange O, Fredriksson R. (2011) Identification of SLC38A7 (SNAT7) protein as a glutamine transporter expressed in neurons. J Biol Chem, 286 (23): 20500-11. [PMID:21511949]

Mackenzie B, Erickson JD. (2004) Sodium-coupled neutral amino acid (System N/A) transporters of the SLC38 gene family. Pflugers Arch, 447 (5): 784-95. [PMID:12845534]

* Schiöth HB, Roshanbin S, Hägglund MG, Fredriksson R. (2013) Evolutionary origin of amino acid transporter families SLC32, SLC36 and SLC38 and physiological, pathological and therapeutic aspects. Mol Aspects Med, 34 (2-3): 571-85. [PMID:23506890]

Sundberg BE, Wååg E, Jacobsson JA, Stephansson O, Rumaks J, Svirskis S, Alsiö J, Roman E, Ebendal T, Klusa V et al.. (2008) The evolutionary history and tissue mapping of amino acid transporters belonging to solute carrier families SLC32, SLC36, and SLC38. J Mol Neurosci, 35 (2): 179-93. [PMID:18418736]

1. Schiöth HB, Roshanbin S, Hägglund MG, Fredriksson R. (2013) Evolutionary origin of amino acid transporter families SLC32, SLC36 and SLC38 and physiological, pathological and therapeutic aspects. Mol Aspects Med, 34 (2-3): 571-85. [PMID:23506890]