Structure and activity of a new form of the glutamate transporter of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

A Caenorhabditis elegans cDNA for a glutamate transporter was cloned and examined in this study. The predicted protein is 11 residues shorter at the N-terminus than Ceglut-1, which we previously reported. The protein, when expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, showed much higher glutamate transport activity than Ceglut-1, suggesting that the N-terminal sequence is critical in glutamate transport.