Crystal structure of arginine-bound lysosomal transporter SLC38A9 in the cytosol-open state

Lei HT, Ma J, Sanchez Martinez S, Gonen T · 2018 · Nature structural & molecular biology · Atlas ID LEI2018

What this study shows

Crystal structure of arginine-bound SLC38A9 reveals the basis of lysosomal arginine sensing.

Abstract

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Recent advances in understanding intracellular amino acid transport and mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling shed light on solute carrier 38, family A member 9 (SLC38A9), a lysosomal transporter responsible for the binding and translocation of several essential amino acids. Here we present the first crystal structure of SLC38A9 from Danio rerio in complex with arginine. As captured in the cytosol-open state, the bound arginine was locked in a transitional state stabilized by transmembrane helix 1 (TM1) of drSLC38A9, which was anchored at the groove between TM5 and TM7.

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At a glance

Evidence type	M Molecular — cells, biochemistry, structure Marked M because it is molecular or in-vitro work (model: Structure; in vitro) rather than a whole-organism health-outcome study. That is often exactly where causal biology gets established -- the code says which system the finding was shown in, and nothing about how good the work is.
Study type	5 - Mechanistic / In Vitro
Model system	Structure; in vitro
Journal	Nature structural & molecular biology
Year	2018
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-10-01
Source	DOI 10.1038/s41594-018-0072-2 · PMID 29872228 · Free full text (PMC7346717)

Extracted findings

These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.

Intervention	Structural (crystal structure of SLC38A9)
Target	SLC38A9 / arginine / mTORC1
Model	Structure; in vitro (Danio rerio)
Effect	First crystal structure of arginine-bound SLC38A9 (cytosol-open state), the lysosomal amino-acid transporter/sensor for mTORC1

In the Atlas

Cite this paper

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Lei, H. T., Ma, J., Sanchez Martinez, S., & Gonen, T. (2018). Crystal structure of arginine-bound lysosomal transporter SLC38A9 in the cytosol-open state. Nature structural & molecular biology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-018-0072-2

@article{LEI2018,
  author       = {Lei, H. T. and Ma, J. and Sanchez Martinez, S. and Gonen, T.},
  title        = {{Crystal structure of arginine-bound lysosomal transporter SLC38A9 in the cytosol-open state}},
  journal      = {Nature structural & molecular biology},
  year         = {2018},
  doi          = {10.1038/s41594-018-0072-2},
  note         = {PMID: 29872228},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper.

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record LEI2018) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/LEI2018/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_LEI2018,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record LEI2018},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/LEI2018/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

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