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The solute carrier 38 family (SLC38) is a family of 11 members. The most commonsubstrate among these are alanine and glutamine, and members are present in a widerange of tissues with important functions for several biological processes, such as liverand brain function. Some of these transporters are better characterized than others and,in this paper, a behavioral characterization of SLC38A10−/− mice was carried out. Abattery of tests for general activity, emotionality, motor function, and spatial memorywere used. Among these tests, the elevated plus maze, Y-maze, marble burying, andchallenging beamwalk have not been tested on the SLC38A10−/− mice previously, whilethe open field and the rotarod tests have been performed by the International MousePhenotyping Consortium (IMPC). Unlike the results from IMPC, the results from this studyshowed that SLC38A10−/− mice spend less time in the wall zone in the open field testthan WT mice, implying that SLC38A10-deficient mice have an increased explorativebehavior, which suggests an important function of SLC38A10 in brain. The present studyalso confirmed IMPC’s data regarding rotarod performance and weight, showing thatSLC38A10−/− mice do not have an affected motor coordination impairment and havea lower body weight than both SLC38A10+/− and SLC38A10+/+ mice. These resultsimply that a complete deficiency of the SLC38A10 protein might affect body weighthomeostasis, but the underlying mechanisms needs to be studied further.

Glutamate acts as a critical regulator of neurotransmitter balance, recycling, synaptic function and homeostasis in the brain and glutamate transporters control glutamate levels in the brain. SLC38A10 is a member of the SLC38 family and regulates protein synthesis and cellular stress responses. Here, we uncover the role of SLC38A10 as a transceptor involved in glutamate-sensing signaling pathways that control both the glutamate homeostasis and mTOR-signaling. The culture of primary cortex cells from SLC38A10 knockout mice had increased intracellular glutamate. In addition, under nutrient starvation, KO cells had an impaired response in amino acid-dependent mTORC1 signaling. Combined studies from transcriptomics, protein arrays and metabolomics established that SLC38A10 is involved in mTOR signaling and that SLC38A10 deficient primary cortex cells have increased protein synthesis. Metabolomic data showed decreased cholesterol levels, changed fatty acid synthesis, and altered levels of fumaric acid, citrate, 2-oxoglutarate and succinate in the TCA cycle. These data suggests that SLC38A10 may act as a modulator of glutamate homeostasis, and mTOR-sensing and loss of this transceptor result in lower cholesterol, which could have implications in neurodegenerative diseases.

Introduction: SLC38A10 is a gene that encodes the SLC38A10 protein, also known as SNAT10. The SLC38 family is evolutionary old, and SLC38A10 is one of the oldest members of the family. It is ubiquitously expressed, and its substrates are glutamine, glutamate, alanine, aspartate, and serine. However, little is known about its biological importance. Methods: In the current study, an SLC38A10 knockout mouse was run in the multivariate concentric square field (TM) (MCSF) test. The MCSF test gives the mouse a choice of areas to explore; sheltered areas, elevated and illuminated areas, or open spaces, and a behavioral profile is obtained. The multivariate data obtained were analyzed (i) for each parameter, (ii) parameters grouped into functional categories, and (iii) with a principal component analysis. Results: In the trend analysis, knockout mice had a decreased exploratory behavior compared to controls but did not show a distinct grouping in the principal component analysis. Discussion: There was not a pronounced difference in the behavioral profile in SLC38A10 knockout mice compared to their wild-type controls, although subtle alterations in zones associated with exploratory behavior and risk assessment in female and male knockout mice, respectively, could be observed. These results imply that a loss of function of the SLC38A10 protein in mice does not drastically alter behavior in the MSCF test.

Bisphenols are important environmental pollutants that are extensively studied due to different detrimental effects, while the molecular mechanisms behind these effects are less well understood. Like other environmental pollutants, bisphenols are being tested in various experimental models, creating large expression datasets found in open access storage. The meta-analysis of such datasets is, however, very complicated for various reasons. Here, we developed an integrating statistical and machine-learning model approach for the meta-analysis of bisphenol A (BPA) exposure datasets from different mouse tissues. We constructed three joint datasets following three different strategies for dataset integration: in particular, using all common genes from the datasets, uncorrelated, and not co-expressed genes, respectively. By applying machine learning methods to these datasets, we identified genes whose expression was significantly affected in all of the BPA microanalysis data tested, those involved in the regulation of cell survival include: Tnfr2, Hgf-Met, Agtr1a, Bdkrb2, signaling through Mapk8 (Jnk1)), DNA repair (Hgf-Met, Mgmt), apoptosis (Tmbim6, Bcl2, Apaf1), and cellular junctions (F11r, Cldnd1, Ctnd1 and Yes1). Our results highlight the benefit of combining existing datasets for the integrated analysis of a specific topic when individual datasets are limited in size.

SLC38A6 (SNAT6) is the only known member of the SLC38 family that is expressed exclusively in the excitatory neurons of the brain. It has been described as an orphan transporter with an unknown substrate profile, therefore very little is known about SNAT6. In this study, we addressed the substrate specificity, mechanisms for internalization of SNAT6, and the regulatory role of SNAT6 with specific insights into the glutamate-glutamine cycle. We used tritium-labeled amino acids in order to demonstrate that SNAT6 is functioning as a glutamine and glutamate transporter. SNAT6 revealed seven predicted transmembrane segments in a homology model and was localized to caveolin rich sites at the plasma membrane. SNAT6 has high degree of specificity for glutamine and glutamate. Presence of these substrates enables formation of SNAT6-caveolin complexes that aids in sodium dependent trafficking of SNAT6 off the plasma membrane. To further understand its mode of action, several potential interacting partners of SNAT6 were identified using bioinformatics. Among them where CTP synthase 2 (CTPs2), phosphate activated glutaminase (Pag), and glutamate metabotropic receptor 2 (Grm2). Co-expression analysis, immunolabeling with co-localization analysis and proximity ligation assays of these three proteins with SNAT6 were performed to investigate possible interactions. SNAT6 can cycle between cytoplasm and plasma membrane depending on availability of substrates and interact with Pag, synaptophysin, CTPs2, and Grm2. Our data suggest a potential role of SNAT6 in glutamine uptake at the pre-synaptic terminal of excitatory neurons. We propose here a mechanistic model of SNAT6 trafficking that once internalized influences the glutamate-glutamine cycle in presence of its potential interacting partners.

Many newly identified solute carriers (SLCs) and putative transporters have the possibility to be intricately involved in glucose metabolism. Here we show that many transporters of this type display a high degree of regulation at both mRNA and protein level following no or low glucose availability in mouse cortex cultures. We show that this is also the case in Drosophila melanogaster subjected to starvation or diets with different sugar content. Interestingly, re-introduction of glucose to media, or refeeding flies, normalized the gene expression of a number of the targets, indicating a fast and highly dynamic control. Our findings demonstrate high conservation of these transporters and how dependent both cell cultures and organisms are on gene and protein regulation during metabolic fluctuations. Several transporter genes were regulated simultaneously maybe to initiate alternative metabolic pathways as a response to low glucose levels, both in the cell cultures and in D. melanogaster. Our results display that newly identified SLCs of Major Facilitator Superfamily type, as well as the putative transporters included in our study, are regulated by glucose availability and could be involved in several cellular aspects dependent of glucose and/or its metabolites. Recently, a correlation between dysregulation of glucose in the central nervous system and numerous diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus as well as neurological disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases indicate a complex regulation and fine tuning of glucose levels in the brain. The fact that almost one third of transporters and transporter-related proteins remain orphans with unknown or contradictive substrate profile, location and function, pinpoint the need for further research about them to fully understand their mechanistic role and their impact on cellular metabolism.

Solute Carrier (SLC) is a cluster of families of membrane bound transporters, of which many members lack defined substrate profile, and many more are poorly characterized. Many play a vital role in regulating metabolic systems, protein synthesis, and post translational modifications. SLC38 is one of the families of SLCs, which are also known as sodium-coupled neutral amino acid transporters (SNATs). In mice, it has 11 members (SNAT1-11) but in Drosophila there are two homologs for the SLC38 family; CG13743 and CG30394. Here, we show characteristics of Drosophila CG13743 which closely resembles SLC38A11 in humans. SLC38A11 still remains an orphan member of the SLC38 family which has not been functionally well studied. We used the UAS-GAL4 system to investigate and control gene expression using RNAi lines for ubiquitous knockdown of the CG13743 gene. It was found to be expressed mainly in salivary gland and brain. Knockdown flies had reduced body weight and consumed less sugar compared with controls. The gene knockdown also affected stored energy pools (lipids and glycogen) and influenced feeding pattern and total activity. In all, this shows novel findings for the characterization of CG13743 in Drosophila and a possible role in maintaining general metabolic pathways and behavior of the fly.

Affärsrelationer har kommit att bli allt viktigare för företag de senaste åren, speciellt de som har som mål att bilda relationer med ett företag som kund. Affärsrelationen kan påverka många beståndsdelar inom parternas verksamhet. Frågan som studien undersöker är om och i så fall på vilket sätt affärsrelationer influerar företags prissättningsstrategi. När det handlar om prissättningsstrategier finns det i litteraturen tre generellt accepterade strategival: värdebaserad prissättning, konkurrensbaserad prissättning samt kostnadsbaserad prissättning. Det finns en konsensus i litteraturen om att den värdebaserade vägen är den som kommer att bringa mest nytta och framgång för den säljande parten. Trots detta är den negligerad och förbisedd i praktiken. Därför har författarna valt att undersöka hur och på vilket sätt affärsrelationer kan influera prissättningsstrategier i B2B-orienterade företagsrelationer. Studien består av 7 fallstudier av företag med B2B-relationer och hur de arbetar i sin dagliga verksamhet med affärsrelationer samt prissättningsstrategier. Utgångspunkten har varit att kunna fylla gapet vi identifierat i litteraturen med relevant empiri från praktiska fall. Syftet med studien är därmed att öka förståelsen för hur B2B-relationer influerar företags prissättningsstrategier. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med diverse beslutsfattare för dessa frågor i de utvalda företagen. Dessa har baserats på två huvudsakliga teoretiska grundområden: Substansen av relationen och värdebaserad prissättningsstrategi. Områdena har sedan flätats ihop för att hitta övergripande teman och få svar under intervjuprocessen. Empirin kom att både bekräfta litteraturens huvudsakliga teoribas, samt avvika från teoribasen vid tillfällen. Som litteraturen påvisade var majoriteten av de tillfrågade företagen benägna att inte applicera värdebaserad prissättningsstrategi. Svårigheten med att tillämpa en sådan strategi var att det var för svårt och kostsamt att definiera värdet på företagets produkter. På grund av detta var det mer effektivt för en majoritet av företagen att använda sig utav en konkurrensbaserad strategi där man förhåller sig till marknadens pris. Studiens resultat pekar på att affärsrelationer endast influerar företagets prissättning om deras strategi var av den värdebaserade naturen. I dessa fall var det köpande företaget även beredd att betala över marknadspris för det mervärde de ansåg att de fick ut ur affärsrelationen. I det andra fallen var marknaden den avgörande faktorn och bidrog till att affärsrelationers inverkan var av liten till ingen grad. Studien fann även belägg för att företag som arbetar med komplexa produkter är mer benägna att applicera en värdebaserad prissättningsstrategi, eftersom det säljande företaget är den enda parten som kan precisera värdet i de situationerna.

The number of transporter proteins that are not fully characterized is immense. Here, we used Drosophila melanogaster and human cell lines to perform a first in-depth characterization of CG4928, an ortholog to the human UNC93A, of which little is known. Solute carriers regulate and maintain biochemical pathways important for the body, and malfunctioning transport is associated with multiple diseases. Based on phylogenetic analysis, CG4928 is closely related to human UNC93A and has a secondary and a tertiary protein structure and folding similar to major facilitator superfamily transporters. Ubiquitous knockdown of CG4928 causes flies to have a reduced secretion rate from the Malpighian tubules; altering potassium content in the body and in the Malpighian tubules, homologous to the renal system; and results in the development of edema. The edema could be rescued by using amiloride, a common diuretic, and by maintaining the flies on ion-free diets. CG4928-overexpressing cells did not facilitate the transport of sugars and amino acids; however, proximity ligation assay revealed that CG4928 co-localized with TASK(1) channels. Overexpression of CG4928 resulted in induced apoptosis and cytotoxicity, which could be restored when cells were kept in high-sodium media. Furthermore, the basal membrane potential was observed to be disrupted. Taken together, the results indicate that CG4928 is of importance for generating the cellular membrane potential by an unknown manner. However, we speculate that it most likely acts as a regulator or transporter of potassium flows over the membrane.