Recent advances in the molecular biology of metazoan polyamine transport.

Department of Molecular Biology, Medical Biochemistry and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec, Canada. richard.poulin@crchuq.ulaval.ca

Amino acids 2012 Feb

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Very limited molecular knowledge exists about the identity and protein components of the ubiquitous polyamine transporters found in animal cells. However, a number of reports have been published over the last 5 years on potential candidates for metazoan polyamine permeases. We review the available evidence on these putative polyamine permeases, as well as establish a useful "identikit picture" of the general polyamine transport system, based on its properties as found in a wide spectrum of mammalian cells. Any molecular candidate encoding a putative "general" polyamine permease should fit that provided portrait. The current models proposed for the mechanism of polyamine internalization in mammalian cells are also briefly reviewed.