Planta

, Volume 222, Issue 3, pp 521–529 | Cite as

AtUTr2 is an Arabidopsis thaliana nucleotide sugar transporter located in the Golgi apparatus capable of transporting UDP-galactose

  • Lorena Norambuena
  • Ricardo Nilo
  • Michael Handford
  • Francisca Reyes
  • Lorena Marchant
  • Lee Meisel
  • Ariel Orellana
Original Article
First Online:
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Accepted:

Abstract

The synthesis of noncellulosic polysaccharides and glycoproteins in the plant cell Golgi apparatus requires UDP-galactose as a substrate. We have cloned and characterized a nucleotide sugar transporter from Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. named AtUTr2. Expression in tobacco and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and subsequent biochemical characterization indicate that AtUTr2 transports UDP-galactose, but not UDP-glucose, UDP-N-acetyl glucosamine, UDP-xylose, UDP-glucuronic acid, GDP-fucose or GDP-mannose. Experiments expressing an AtUTr2-GFP fusion protein in onion epidermal cells suggest that AtUTr2 is located in the Golgi apparatus. Finally, northern analysis indicates that the AtUTr2 transcript was more abundant in roots and calli although it was also present in other Arabidopsis organs but at lower levels. Therefore, AtUTr2 is a nucleotide sugar transporter capable of transporting UDP-galactose that may play an important role in the synthesis of galactose-containing glycoconjugates in Arabidopsis.

Keywords

Arabidopsis thaliana Gene functional characterization Golgi apparatus Nucleotide sugar transporters 

Abbreviations

NST

nucleotide sugar transporter

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Notes

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Daniela Gómez for help in the experiments expressing AtUTr2 in tobacco and the people from the laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics for helpful discussions. This work was supported by grants Fondecyt 2010066, 1000675, 1030551 and ICM P 02-009-F. Michael Handford was supported by The Leverhulme Trust. The GenBank accession number of the sequence reported in this paper is DQ015901

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2005

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lorena Norambuena
    • 1
    • 2
  • Ricardo Nilo
    • 1
  • Michael Handford
    • 1
  • Francisca Reyes
    • 1
  • Lorena Marchant
    • 1
    • 3
  • Lee Meisel
    • 1
  • Ariel Orellana
    • 1
  1. 1.Plant Cell Biology Millennium Nucleus, Department of Biology, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of Chile and Centre of Plant Biotechnology, University Andrés BelloSantiagoChile
  2. 2.Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, Center for Plant Cell BiologyUniversity of California RiversideRiversideUSA
  3. 3.Department of Anatomy and Developmental BiologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK

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