Family 2.A.53 - The Sulfate Permease Family       

Family ID: 52638

The SulP family is a large and ubiquitous family with over 30 sequenced members derived from bacteria, fungi, plants and animals. Many organisms including Bacillus subtilis, Synechocystis sp, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis thaliana and Caenorhabditis elegans possess multiple SulP family paralogues. Many of these proteins are functionally characterized, and all are sulfate uptake transporters. Some transport their substrate with high affinities, while others transport it with relatively low affinities. Most function by SO42-:H+ symport, but SO42-:HCO3- antiport has been reported for the rat protein (spP45380).

The phylogenetic tree for the SulP family reveals five principal branches. Three of these are bacterial specific as follows: one bears a single protein from M. tuberculosis; a second bears two proteins, one from M. tuberculosis, the other from Synechocystis sp., and the third bears all remaining prokaryotic proteins. The remaining two clusters bear only eukaryotic proteins with the animal proteins all localized to one branch and the plant and fungal proteins localized to the other.