Differential inactivation of the "L" and "Ly+" amino acid transport systems by a sulfhydryl reagent and a photo-affinity probe.

Using a substrate-stimulated amino acid efflux system, it has been shown that the "Ly+" and "L" amino acid transport systems of mouse embryo cells in culture are differentially inhibited by parachloromercuribenzene sulfonate (PCMB-S) and the photoaffinity probe 4-fluoro-3-nitrophenylazide (FNPA). Three types of evidence support the conclusion that these transport systems are mediated by separate carrier proteins. (1) The specificity of substrate-stimulated efflux is high for each system; (2) PCMB-S inhibits L-phenylalanine and L-leucine stimulated L-[3H]phenylalanine efflux with no effect on L-lysine stimulated L-[3H]lysine efflux, and (3) the photo-affinity probe FNPA inhibits L-lysine efflux with little effect on the L-phenylalanine-stimulated efflux.