3.A.1.1.10
Alginate (MW 27,000 Da) (and Alginate oligosaccharides) uptake porter. Sphingomonas species A1 is a 'pit-forming' bacterium that directly incorporates alginate into its cytoplasm through a pit-dependent transport system, termed a 'superchannel' (Murata et al., 2008). The pit is a novel organ acquired through the fluidity and reconstitution of cell surface molecules, and through cooperation with the transport machinery in the cells. It confers upon bacterial cells a more efficient way to secure and assimilate macromolecules (Murata et al., 2008).  The substrate-transport characteristics and quaternary structure of AlgM1M2SS with AlgQ1 have been determined (Maruyama et al. 2015). The addition of poly- or oligoalginate enhanced the ATPase activity of reconstituted AlgM1M2SS coupled with one of the periplasmic solute-binding proteins, AlgQ1 or AlgQ2. External fluorescence-labeled oligoalginates were specifically imported into AlgM1M2SS-containing proteoliposomes in the presence of AlgQ2, ATP, and Mg²⁺. The crystal structure of AlgQ2-bound AlgM1M2SS adopts an inward-facing conformation. The interaction between AlgQ2 and AlgM1M2SS induces the formation of an alginate-binding tunnel-like structure accessible to solvent. The translocation route inside the transmembrane domains contains charged residues suitable for the import of acidic saccharides (Maruyama et al. 2015).