Nucleotide sugar transporters: Biological and functional aspects

The Golgi apparatus serves as the major site of glycosylation reactions. Nu cleotide sugars which are substrates of the Golgi localized glycosyltransfe rases are synthesized in the cytoplasm (cell nucleus in case of CMP-sialic acid) and must be transported into the compartment lumen. This transport fu nction is carried out by nucleotide sugar transporters. The first genes wer e cloned in the year 1996 and revealed a family of structurally conserved m ulti-transmembrane-spanning proteins. Due to the high structural and functi onal conservation, the identification of many putative nucleotide sugar tra nsporter sequences has become possible in the existing gene data bases and accelerates the increase in knowledge on structure-function-relationships. Recent developments in the nucleotide sugar transporter field are discussed in this article. (C) 2001 Societe francaise de biochimie et biologie molec ulaire/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserve d.