title: Glutamine transport. From energy supply to sensing and beyond.
abstract: Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in plasma and is actively involved in many biosynthetic and regulatory processes. It can be synthesized endogenously but becomes "conditionally essential" in physiological or pathological conditions of high proliferation rate. To accomplish its functions glutamine has to be absorbed and distributed in the whole body. This job is efficiently carried out by a network of membrane transporters that differ in transport mechanisms and energetics, belonging to families SLC1, 6, 7, 38, and possibly, 25. Some of the transporters are involved in glutamine traffic across different membranes for metabolic purposes; others are involved in specific signaling functions through mTOR. Structure/function relationships and regulatory aspects of glutamine transporters are still at infancy. In the while, insights in involvement of these transporters in cell redox control, cancer metabolism and drug interactions are arising, stimulating basic research to uncover molecular mechanisms of transport and regulation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'EBEC 2016: 19th European Bioenergetics Conference, Riva del Garda, Italy, July 2-6, 2016', edited by Prof. Paolo Bernardi.
authors.affiliation: Department DiBEST (Biologia, Ecologia, Scienze della Terra) Unit of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci 4C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariafrancesca
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scalise
authors.affiliation: Department DiBEST (Biologia, Ecologia, Scienze della Terra) Unit of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci 4C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pochini
authors.affiliation: Department DiBEST (Biologia, Ecologia, Scienze della Terra) Unit of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci 4C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galluccio
authors.affiliation: Department DiBEST (Biologia, Ecologia, Scienze della Terra) Unit of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci 4C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy. Electronic address: cesare.indiveri@unical.it.
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Indiveri
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D026905:Amino Acid Transport Systems; D026921:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D002952:Citric Acid Cycle / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D005973:Glutamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D040681:Structural Homology, Protein
chemical_list: D026905:Amino Acid Transport Systems; D026921:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral; D020033:Protein Isoforms; C503995:SLC6A14 protein, human; D005973:Glutamine
keywords: Cancer; Glutamine; Membrane transporter; Metabolism; Redox control; mTOR