Structural Elements in the Transmembrane and Cytoplasmic Domains of the Metal Transporter SLC30A10 Are Required for Its Manganese Efflux Activity

Homozygous mutations in SLC30A10 lead to the development of familial manganese-induced parkinsonism. We previously demonstrated that SLC30A10 is a cell surface-localized manganese efflux transporter, and parkinsonism-causing mutations block its trafficking and efflux activity. Interestingly, other transporters in the SLC30 family mediate zinc efflux. Determining the mechanisms that allow SLC30A10 to transport manganese, which are unclear, is essential to understand its role in parkinsonism. Here, we generated a predicted structure of SLC30A10, based on the structure of the bacterial zinc transporter YiiP, and performed functional studies. In YiiP, side chains of residues Asp-45 and Asp-49 in the second and His-153 and Asp-157 in the fifth transmembrane segments coordinate zinc and are required for transport. In SLC30A10, the corresponding residues are Asn-43 and Asp-47 in the second and His-244 and Asp-248 in the fifth transmembrane segments. Surprisingly, although alanine substitution of Asp-248 abolished manganese efflux, that of Asn-43 and Asp-47 did not. Instead, side chains of charged or polar residues adjacent to Asp-248 in the first (Glu-25) or fourth (Asn-127) transmembrane segments were required. Further analyses revealed that residues His-333 and His-350 in the cytoplasmic C-terminal domain were required for full activity. However, the C-terminal domain failed to transfer manganese transport capability to a related zinc transporter. Overall, our results indicate that residues in the transmembrane and C-terminal domains together confer optimal manganese transport capability to SLC30A10 and suggest that the mechanism of ion coordination in the transmembrane domain of SLC30A10 may be substantially different from that in YiiP/other SLC30 proteins.